


The Proposal

by tvfanatic97



Series: Rom-Com Tropes Galore [5]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Romantic Comedy, F/M, Fake Marriage, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Future Fic, No Midtown
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-13
Updated: 2018-12-20
Packaged: 2019-07-29 18:26:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16269857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tvfanatic97/pseuds/tvfanatic97
Summary: Faced with deportation, Michelle propositions her assistant Peter to pretend to be married to her in order to keep her visa status in the U.S. and avoid deportation to her native Canada.The Proposal (2009) AU.





	1. Chapter 1

Peter woke up to the sun filtering in through his open blinds, sleep naturally fading from his body as he took a moment to stretch. He inhaled and exhaled deeply to prepare himself for the day ahead then slowly turned to his bedside table where he saw the blinking red light of his alarm clock which read 08:00 which-  _shit_.

Gone were the relaxed, leisurely movements of before as he quickly threw his bed sheet to the side and jumped out of bed to hop into the shower and get ready as quickly as he could.

Within fifteen minutes he was locking up his apartment whilst simultaneously trying to tighten the tie around his neck with his other hand and keep the Pop-Tart in his mouth- his  _very healthy_ to-go breakfast- from falling out.

Once he got the door locked he was about to run down the stairs but stopped in his tracks when he nearly collided with his elderly neighbor. “Mrs González! I’m so sorry, I didn’t see you there.” He used one hand to take the Pop-Tart out of his mouth as the other went to steady the woman on her feet with a hand to her back.

“Peter, running late again are we?” She asked, her tone chastising.

“Would I be Peter Parker if I wasn’t?” Peter admitted sheepishly.

“That boss of yours is going to kill you,” she declared with a hearty laugh like the murder of her young neighbor was incredibly amusing to her.

“I know, so I really should get going. I’m so sorry again.”

“By the way Peter, thank you for fixing my computer. It works perfectly now, I can Skype my Anna and her girls. You know we were just speaking about her no-good husband the other day, they’ve been having some money problems and she was…”

Peter subtly looked down at the watch on his wrist, not wanting to seem rude as the elderly woman told him of her daughter’s marital troubles whilst remaining wary of the time and his impending murder at the hands of Michelle Jones if he didn’t get to the office before her.

“Anyway never mind all that, you probably don’t care-“ Mrs González’s spoke, bringing Peter’s attention back to her. “I will make you something to eat as a thank you. I’ll put it in a container for you to come and pick up whenever. I know how late that woman keeps you in the office.”

“Oh no, Mrs González. You really don’t need to do that,” Peter tried to protest.

“Nonsense Peter, with the hours you work you need a nice home cooked meal.”

The older woman was insistent and with Peter already running late he didn’t have the time to stay and go and back and forth with her, protesting whilst she insisted she cook for him until one of them lost, so in the end he had to relent, “Okay, Mrs González. Thank you so much. I really have to go though.” He leant down to give her a kiss on the cheek before he turned to run down the stairs.

“You be careful now!” she called after him.

He managed to make it to the local artisan coffee shop Michelle liked in record time. There was a Starbucks closer to their office he could have gone to which was way more convenient but Michelle complained about the enfranchisement of coffee and swore that Starbucks coffee was just overpriced shit. She preferred this café because they made fantastic, unpretentious coffee using Fairtrade coffee beans. To Peter, caffeine was caffeine but he wasn’t going to question it lest he incur her wrath; beyond the power she held over him employment-wise, she was also surprisingly physically threatening considering her lithe, lanky form.

As Peter ran into the coffee house, spurred on by his will to live, he saw a long line of locals waiting and he huffed in annoyance until Debra, the cute barista who he saw daily, called out to him. “Peter hey! C’mere,” she gestured for him to walk past the waiting customers and come up to the counter.

“Hi Deb,” Peter greeted with an easy, shy smile. He had to admit that Debra was beautiful in a girl next door type of way, with her sunny disposition, genuine ever-present smile and polite words. He may have even asked her out if he wasn’t already completely committed to Michelle Jones.

“Hey,” she greeted as she shyly tucked some hair behind her ear, the tip of which had gone a hue of red. “I got your usual ready for you- two lattes with oat milk.”

“Deb you’re an angel, one of these days I promise I will pay you back in kind,” he quickly grabbed the two coffees, placed a $20 bill on the counter and ran out before she had the time to respond.

After nearly getting run over by morning traffic approximately thirty times- he was  _not_  exaggerating, New Yorkers were cranky in the mornings- Peter managed to make it to the office about eight and a half minutes before Michelle was due to arrive so he took a moment to catch his breath as he turned to wave to his best friend Ned through the open door to his IT office.

Ned waved back to him with a child-like excitement like he did every day which instantly calmed Peter down and made him smile in turn, feeling readier to face the day and Michelle. He then quickly scrambled to Michelle’s office to get everything in order for her arrival.

“Morning boss,” Peter greeted when she arrived as he handed her coffee to her.

She didn’t acknowledge him as she walked around her desk to sit on the office chair as she always did so he carried on unperturbed, “You have a conference call in thirty minutes, the meeting with Forbes Under 30 at 3 and your immigration lawyer has called a few times and he says it’s really important that-“

“Cancel the call, push the Forbes meeting to tomorrow and keep the lawyer on the sheets,” Michelle interrupted as she busied herself with sorting through the various documents left on her desk.

Peter was walking out of her office when he was stopped in his tracks by Michelle, “Um, who is Deb? And why does she want me to call her?” Michelle asked, glancing down pointedly at the neat writing on the coffee cup that matched Debra’s personality.

Peter turned around, his eyes comically wide at her words. He cleared his throat, “Uh, that was- that was originally my cup.” He nervously fiddled with his tie.

“And I’m drinking your coffee…why?”

“Because I spilt your coffee.”

MJ simply nodded, intrigued, as she brought the coffee cup in question to her lips and took a sip, “So you drink lattes with oat milk as well, huh?”

“Yep, yeah, I totally do. I definitely  _wouldn’t_  like, order two of your specific coffee order just in case I accidentally spilt one given my penchant for getting into accidents on a semi-regular basis or anything like that because that would be really quite pa-“

Peter’s rambling was mercifully interrupted by the phone in Michelle’s office ringing so he quickly went over to answer it, “Morning, Miss Jones’ office. Oh- hey Flash,”  Peter greeted trying to mask the disdain for the man on the other end on the line.

At the mention of that name Michelle made a vague gesture with her hand that he knew meant she needed to see him from years of working under her. “Actually Flash, we’re headed to your office right now. Yep,” he finalised as he hung up the phone.

“Why are we going to Flash’s office?” Peter asked confused.

Michelle offered no explanation and simply shrugged as she got out of her seat walking out of the office with Peter trailing behind her.

“Hey, uh, did you get the chance to look over the portfolio I sent over to you?” Peter’s voice was barely above a whisper with nerves.

Michelle continued walking slightly ahead of him, all his co-workers hurriedly looking down to pretend to work as she walked past their desks, “Peter I’m trying to keep a print newspaper afloat in the digital age. I don’t have the time.”

“I just, uh, y’know what-  _forget it_.”

“Okay, let’s do this,” Michelle stepped into Flash’s office.

“Our fearless editor and her handmaid, please do come in,” Flash greeted with sarcasm dripping from his every word.

“How are you doing this fine morning, Flash?” Michelle asked with a put-on sweet, polite tone.

“Great actually, I went to that new bar on-“

“Yeah, listen Flash-" Michelle interjected before he could go on, no doubt ready to brag about how he'd gone to another exclusive VIP bar. "I’m letting you go from the publication,” Michelle cut to the chase no longer able to keep up the small talk.

“Uh-  _what_?” Flash scrambled out of his seat.

“I asked you over a dozen times to convince that former Trump staffer to do an interview with us and you didn’t do it,” Michelle explained.

“I told you that was impossible, they’d never risk their livelihood by doing that,” Flash explained exasperatedly; he had been going back and forth with Michelle over this for the past few weeks since she’d suggested Flash do a sit-down interview with the source to boost readership.

“That’s interesting because one call was all it took for me to get them to agree.”

Peter remained silent in the corner, his eyes darting back and forth between the two as he followed the verbal brawl before him.

“Excuse me?”

“Oh,  _you’re excused_ ,” Michelle fired back. “Why as the editor am I having to do your job as well?”

“But-“ Flash tried to explain.

Michelle walked towards Flash so he was now looking up towards her, “I’ll give you two months to find another job then you can tell everyone you resigned. Okay?” Michelle pat Flash’s shoulder patronisingly before she walked out with Peter on her heels.

“What’s his 20?” Michelle asked Peter as they casually walked back to her office.

“He’s pacing a bit and now he’s- he’s coming out of his office. He looks real pissed.”

“Don’t do it Flash,” Michelle muttered to herself.

“You- you heinous bitch! You can’t fire me!” Flash said jogging up to catch up with Michelle and Peter, pointing an accusatory finger at her. “You sucked and fucked your way to being the youngest newspaper editor in the city now you think you have the authority to fire me just because you feel threatened by me?” Flash exploded.

Peter moved to take a nearby seat to watch all this unfold from the side-lines, Michelle was more than capable of handling this herself- especially given that it was Flash who was no worthy opponent in a verbal altercation against Michelle, or probably a physical one if it came to that.

“Flash-“ Michelle calmly tried to interrupt his tirade.

Flash simply carried on, making things worse for himself, “Just because you have no semblance of a life outside this paper, you think you can treat all of us like your little slaves. Well I feel sorry for you because you’re gonna have nothing and no one on your deathbed!”

“Aw Flash. I’m not firing you because I’m threatened by the connections your wealth has afforded you which you use to mask the sheer mediocrity of your writing. No. I’m firing you because you’re lazy, entitled and incompetent, keep up,” Michelle reached over to remove a stray piece of lint from the shoulder of Flash’s suit jacket to punctuate her patronising tone. “If you say another word, I’m gonna have Peter here get security to kindly escort you out.”

“Listen-“ Flash tried to defend himself.

“Security. Escort.” Michelle repeated, placing emphasis on each word to drive her threat home.

When Flash didn’t attempt to say anything else so Michelle turned to walk away, satisfied, with Peter trailing after her as per.

“Peter I need you on this weekend to help go through his files and articles he’s working on,” Michelle said turning back slightly to Peter who was struggling to keep up with her longer strides, back to business as usual as if she hadn’t just had an argument with a senior writer in front of a large proportion of the staff.

“Uh,  _this_  weekend?” Peter gulped nervously.

“Yeah, is that a problem?”

“Um, it’s just that it’s my aunt’s birthday and she’s like a mother to me so it’s-“ Michelle had already walked away from him before he could finish the rest of his explanation, leaving Peter stumped.

Once MJ was gone Peter went to settle on his desk and immediately dialled May’s number to explain the situation to her.

“He-hey May. What- what do you mean I sound nervous? I’m not nervous- what do you mean I have a “I have a bad news” tone?” Peter asked incredulously to his aunt on the other side of the phone. “Okay you got me, she wants me to work this weekend so I won’t be able to come on Saturday. I- know, I know. I’m really sorry but I’ll make it up to you, we can go to Shakespeare in the park the weekend after. May- no, no I’m not gonna quit, I’ve worked too hard and I could get that promotion any day-“ Peter immediately hung up, something he was sure he’d be hearing about next time he spoke to May, when he saw Michelle walking towards his desk.

“Was that your aunt?” Michelle asked, her tone disinterested.

“No, uh-“ Michelle gave Peter a disbelieving look seeing right through his lie so he decided to come clean, “ Yes. Yes, it was.”

“She tell you to quit?”

“Everyday,” Peter admitted quietly. “Anyway, Harrington and Morita want to see you upstairs by the way.”

MJ groaned at this, “Okay, fine. Meet me afterwards, we have lots of work to do.”

“Okie dokie,” Peter said with a small smile as he turned to get to the work at hand whilst Michelle went upstairs.

He managed to work uninterrupted for a maximum of about ten minutes before his phone started ringing incessantly until he picked it up to an irritated freelancer who was demanding to speak to the editor. Peter tried to placate the guy on the phone, reassuring him that she was in a meeting and would get back to him as soon as she was done but the guy was insistent and would not hang up until he spoke to Michelle and even threatened a lawsuit if he didn’t get the pay he was owed. At the words “lawsuit” Peter promptly went upstairs to Morita’s office to find Michelle.

He walked straight past Morita’s PA who was trying to stop him from going into the office and just barged into the office.

“We’re in the middle of a meeting here,” Morita told Peter in response to the intrusion.

“I know, I know but Miss Jones there’s a freelancer on the phone who’s threatening a lawsuit who wants to speak to you, he’s on hold. I tried to tell him you were in a meeting but he’s demanding that you speak to him right away so, uh, sorry,” Peter added sheepishly realising he’d just interrupted a meeting between three people who could all fire him on the spot.

There was a brief quiet moment where Peter stewed in his embarrassment before Michelle eyed him with a  _look_. In all his years working for her he’d never seen that look before much less been on the receiving end of it so he couldn’t decipher what it could mean until Michelle spoke.

“Come here,” Michelle quietly mouthed to Peter, who nervously approached her side.

“Gentlemen, I understand the predicament we’re in but there’s something you should know,” she moved to stand right next to Peter. “We are- we are getting married.  _We’re getting married_ ,” she declared awkwardly patting Peter’s chest.

Peters mouth hung open dumbfoundedly as he tried to process what was happening, “Who, who’s getting married?”

“ _You and_  I, we are getting married. Yes we are,” Michelle declared happily with a fake grin plastered on her face that looked like it was probably hurting her cheeks from how hard she was straining.

“We are getting married,” Peter and Michelle declared simultaneously, Peter’s tone that of complete confusion and shock whilst Michelle’s was a fake assured and happy one.

“Isn’t he you secretary?” Harrington asked with eyes narrowed.

“Assistant,” Peter corrected quietly.

“Executive assistant actually,” Michelle corrected at the same time. “But you know, we just spend so much time together we were bound to fall in love,” Michelle said with a fake giggle. “All those late nights at the office  _alone_ , y’know?” her tone was suggestive.

Peter stared ahead, mouth agape, speechless as Michelle continued to paint a picture of their non-existent love story.

“It was hard to not fall for this guy you know,” she awkwardly wrapped an arm around his shoulders. “So are you, uh, happy with this? Because we’re really happy, obviously.”

“This is brilliant Michelle,” Morita congratulated. “Just make it legal,” he gestured to his own wedding band.

Michelle fake giggled again, which was fast becoming one of Peter’s least favorite sounds, he’d forever be haunted by the sound.

“Well we better head on to the immigration office so we can work all this out huh,  _babe_?” she pat Peter’s cheek, her movements lacking all the gentleness to go with her fake sweet tone, it felt more like being slapped repeatedly.

“Thank you so much, gentlemen. We’ll sort all this out right away,” Michelle started to slowly back out of the office as she spoke so Peter followed suit.

“Gentlemen,” Peter bid farewell and followed after her.

He trailed after Michelle as they went back to the main floor where it seemed word of their supposed engagement had somehow already spread with people looking at the pair with curious eyes, mumbled words heard all across the floor.

Michelle simply ignored it as she carried on to her office but Peter couldn’t help but feel self-conscious as he walked behind her until he eventually escaped the intensity of their scrutiny when he joined her in her office, making sure to close the door and shut the blinds after her.

He stood opposite her desk in silence as he tried to process everything that had just happened in the last fifteen minutes. How had he gone from apologising to his aunt for yet another weekend missed with her because of his job to apparently being engaged to his hard-ass boss?

“What?” Michelle snapped when she noticed his wide-eyed stare directed at her.

“I don’t understand what just happened.”

“Relax Peter. This can be a mutually beneficial thing,” MJ had already opened up her laptop, furiously typing and seemingly not as affected by this as Peter was.

“Explain how?”

Michelle carried on with her work without missing a beat or looking up, “They were going to make Flash the editor.”

Peter narrowed his eyes in confusion, “So that means I have to marry you?”

“What?” Michelle snorted. “Where you saving yourself for someone special?” Michelle asked still not looking up at him.

“That’s generally how marriage works, yes. Besides, I’m pretty sure this is illegal.”

“They’re looking for terrorists and criminals, not newspaper editors. Relax Peter,” Michelle said with a laugh.

“Michelle.” Peter was anything but relaxed.

“Yes?”

“I’m  _not_  gonna marry you,” Peter declared, keeping his tone even to convey the finality of his words.

“Sure you are Pete, otherwise your dreams of somehow impacting the world and making a difference through your photography as a photojournalist are dead.” Michelle finally looked up at him with that threat.

She sighed deeply before continuing, “Look, if Flash gets my job he’ll fire you almost instantly meaning you’ll be out on the street and I’ll be back in Canada so you’ll have no one to give you a reference to get another job. But don’t worry, we can keep this marriage for the required amount of time for immigration then we can divorce but until then you’re now Peter Jones, now go on,” she gestured for him to leave with a dismissive wave of the hand.

After a silent moment where Peter stood frozen on the spot he finally spoke up, “Michelle Jones-Parker.”

“What?” she asked looking up, having not realised he was still even in her office.

“I’m not taking your name for this fake marriage.”

Michelle exhaled loudly at his words, “Double barrelling isn’t the worst thing in the world, I guess. Now scoot, you’re still my assistant and you have work to do.”

And with that Peter walked out of her office to try and get some work done even though he was still thinking about how he'd gotten himself in this situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, I know this series was meant to be one-shots but I always thought the characters in the film decide to get married for real for real a little too quickly so I decided to add a bit more stuff then this just kept growing, and growing until it became too long to keep as a one-shot. But the good news is that it's all mostly written so you won't have to wait ages between updates. And also, this opens up the door to more multi-chapter rom-com aus for the more tricky aus so...yeah. Anyway I've rambled enough, hope you enjoy this one!!! As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated.
> 
> Also you can find me on tumblr @tvfanatic97-2 and on twitter @dayaspsychic if you want x


	2. Chapter 2

~~~~Peter found himself unable to work and unable to concentrate on anything other than his boss propositioning him to a green card marriage. He’d spent the past few hours sat aimless, staring blankly into the distance as he processed everything.

What would he tell aunt May? Or Tony? Or Ned? Or hell, even Mrs González who'd had to listen to him bitch and complain about Michelle and how she made his life a living hell more times than he cared to admit?

Wait, his priorities were _not_ in order- this was a felony, he’d probably be in prison for fraud before he even got the chance to tell them all anyway. 

Suffice to say he did not get any work done for the rest of the morning, his thoughts stuck in an ever-increasingly dramatic spiral that concluded with him being charged with a federal crime and being sent off to Guantanamo Bay- which had been closed down some years ago but in his panicked state he'd convinced himself they'd re-open it _especially_ for him. He was glad when Michelle snapped him out of his trance so they could head to the immigration office to file their papers in the late afternoon. It was only then that he realised it was even late afternoon and that he'd missed lunch. Damn.

“We’ve gotta head to immigration, c’mon _babe_ ,” Michelle put a sickly emphasis on the affectionate term that made bile rise in Peter’s throat. He was generally quite fond of pet names and had used them and been called by them in past relationships, but there was just something about Michelle using it and the lilt of her voice when she used it that made Peter shiver slightly. And not in a good way.

Peter hurriedly got out of his seat as he shut down his desktop and grabbed the jacket slung on the back of his chair, “Yep, yeah. Let’s go boss.”

“Everyone knows about the engagement, _Pete_. You don’t have to call me boss around the office anymore,” her tone was light with a slight, obviously fake to Peter, giggle but the way her eyes frantically scanned the office floor to see who was listening in showed that her words were anything but light.

“Sure, bo-Michelle,” Peter forced out with a grimace, still entirely too uncomfortable with the situation.

He’d already turned to walk away before Michelle could punch him for that embarrassing attempt at showing her affection, and she luckily only followed after and didn’t mention it as they left their floor and the office building.

They caught a cab across the city to the immigration office without exchanging a single word, mainly because Michelle was on the phone the entire time chasing up some story, but also because Peter didn’t know what to say to her. He was still processing his predicament.

Peter groaned aloud at the long line of people waiting that greeted them as they stepped foot into the immigration office and exhaled loudly, preparing himself for a half an hour minimum wait when he saw Michelle walk ahead past the people ahead out of the corner of his eye.

“This way,” Michelle declared simply as she manoeuvred her way around the line.

Peter chased after her, trying to keep up with her longer strides, as he called after her, “Mich-Michelle, _no_.”

Michelle was used to getting her way or having things done her way given her position of power so Peter felt compelled to remind her that things didn’t work that way outside of the office and especially not here. She’d however already gone ahead to the front of the line meaning she either didn’t hear or elected to ignore Peter’s protests about how she couldn’t just cut to the front of the line.

“I need for you to file this fiancée visa for me, please,” Michelle handed the paperwork to the clerk with no preamble or so much as a greeting as Peter awkwardly stood beside her avoiding both the glaring eyes of the crowd they’d pushed in front of and the confused clerk over the counter, wishing the ground would swallow him whole.

The guy over the counter gave Michelle a brief incredulous look then resigned himself to sliding the folder across the counter when he saw that she wasn’t going to back down. “Miss Jones?”

“Yes,” Michelle replied with a small, polite smile.

“Come with me,” the guy gestured for both Michelle and Peter to follow him. Michelle looked back with eyebrows raised as if to say “see” to Peter in defence of the lack of basic manners and etiquette she’d just displayed.

The poor guy lead them to a back office then instructed them to wait there for a moment.

Peter settled into one of the chairs by the desk whilst Michelle remained firmly standing, phone in hand as she typed away as per.

“I have a bad feeling about this,” Peter’s eyes scanned all around the office and peaked through the glass door, a feeling of unease settling over him.

Within mere seconds of Peter expressing his unease there was a quick knock on the glass door that startled the pair as a man appeared on the other side, donning a slightly ill-fitting suit that had seen better days.

“What’s up,” he greeted in a laid-back, casual drawl that didn’t match the general professional, no nonsense, business-like air one associates with an official government office like the immigration office. But then again, the employees were just overworked civil servants so his manner shouldn't have been so surprising.

“I’m Mr Wilson,” he introduced himself as he shut the door before turning back to face the pair. “And you-“ he gestured to Peter, “-must be Peter and you must be-“

“Michelle,” Michelle interjected, introducing herself.

“Sorry about the wait, it’s been a crazy day here,” Mr Wilson settled into the office chair opposite Peter as he spoke.

“Thank you for seeing us on such short notice, by the way,” Michelle chimed in, her tone overly sweet in a way that put Peter on edge.

“So uh, I just gotta ask you guys- are you both committing fraud to avoid her deportation so she can keep her position as editor-in-chief at the New York Telegraph?”

“Wh-what? What? No, no, uh, abso _lutely_ not. That’s- that is _ridiculous_ ,” Peter huffed, the pitch of his voice going up an octave with each half-hearted unconvincing protest.

Michelle cleared her throat and gave him a look through the corner of her eye from where she was stood next to his seat, her message clear: _shut the hell up_. She spoke up instead, “Where did you hear that?”

“Somebody snitched,” the government official said before snorting slightly at a joke only he was privy to. “We had a phone tip this afternoon from some guy named-“

“Wouldn't happen to have been a Eugene Thompson that gave you this _tip,_ would it?” Michelle interrupted to ask.

“Yeah, that’s the snitch alright,” Mr Wilson let out another snort.

“Oh Eugene, poor Eugene,” Michelle commiserated, briefly looking over to Peter who at least had the sense to shake his head solemnly in agreement, though he didn't know what he was agreeing to. “Eugene is a former disgruntled employee who was let go from the publication quite _recently_ -“

Peter snorted at the word “recently”- yeah sure, _this morning_ "recently"- but he cleared his throat to regain his composure when he noticed Michelle giving him a murderous look.

Michelle carried on, “Like I was saying, he holds a grudge against me so I would take his word with a grain of salt. Sir.”

Mr Wilson leant back in his chair slightly and eyed the pair with his eyes narrowed with suspicion.

Michelle spoke up again in a slight panic, worrying that he was somehow seeing right through them, “Y’know, I’m sure you are so busy and have so much other important stuff to deal with, especially with the recent governmental changes and all.”

Both Michelle and Peter giggled nervously but abruptly stopped when Mr Wilson didn’t join in and kept watching them with increasing suspicion.

“So if you could just, uh, give us our next step we’ll be out of your hair and on our way.”

Mr Wilson chuckled heartily, leaning his head back slightly for a moment before gesturing to Michelle to sit down, “Miss Jones, please.”

As Michelle was settling into the chair next to Peter’s he carried on, “I’m gonna explain to the two of you how this all works. Step one will be a scheduled interview. I’ll put you each in a room and ask you questions a _real_ couple would know about each other.” He placed extra emphasis on the “real” as he eyed them knowingly.

“Then I’ll dig deeper. I’m talking like CIA type shi- sorry- _stuff_. I’m gonna look at your phone records, talk to your neighbors, interview your co-workers, have 24-hour surveillance on you guys-“ He chuckled at his own words.

“I’m just playing about the surveillance part, _but,_ if your answers don’t match up at every single point you,” he pointed to Michelle, “will be deported indefinitely and you,“ he pointed to Peter, “will have committed a felony punishable by a fine of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars and a stay of five years in federal prison.” He said the last word in a sing-songy tone that gave Peter a great sense of discomfort.

He allowed some time for the pair to process everything he’d just said for a moment before carrying on, “So Peter, do you still wanna stick to this hitched to the boss story?”

Peter gulped nervously, as he took a moment to think it over, his eyed darting to look at anything but Mr Wilson or Michelle.

“The truth is-“ Peter’s voice was barely above a whisper and was raspy so he cleared his throat to try again. “The truth is, Michelle and I are just two people who weren’t supposed to fall in love but-“ he reached a hand over to hold Michelle’s hand in his own, “but _we did_ and we couldn’t tell anyone because I, um, I have an upcoming promotion.”

“An upcoming promotion?” Michelle asked with confusion, squeezing his hand tightly in warning.

“Promotion huh?” Mr Wilson questioned at the same time.

Peter sat up straighter, gaining confidence as he realised he could leverage this against Michelle, “We both felt that it’d be inappropriate if I was promoted to an in-house photojournalist while we were, _you know_ ,” he waggled his eyebrows in a slimey way that was unnatural to him to convey the suggestive tone of his words.

“Photojournalist,” Michelle repeated, though to Peter’s trained ear he could tell there was a question concealed in her statement to which he simply nodded.

“So, do your parents know about your secret love affair?” Mr Wilson continued his line of questioning.

“Well my parents are dead so…” Peter said with a nervous laugh; he didn’t even know why he was laughing, nothing about this was funny in any way.

“He was orphaned at such a tender age but he has his aunt who raised him like his own,” Michelle said rubbing her thumb across the back of Peter’s hands where their hands were still adjoined as if to gain sympathy points from the disinterested government official opposite them. Peter was surprised she remembered that detail about him, she had never shown any interest in Peter as a person beyond his role as her personal assistant but Peter didn't have time to think about how he may have misjudged her as he realised she was still speaking. “She’s basically like a mother to him so we’re gonna tell her this weekend at her 50th birthday party, we just thought it’d be such a nice surprise.”

“Oh really? And uh- where is this 50th party gonna be?” Mr Wilson asked in a tone that suggested he already knew the answer but was trying to catch Michelle in a lie.

“At Peter’s childhood home, of course,” Michelle said with a fake smile plastered on her face.

“And where exactly  _is_ Peter's childhood home?” Mr Wilson pressed on.

“In, um, in…” Michelle dragged out her words as she briefly eyed Peter as if he could telepathically communicate the answer to her by simply staring at her. When Peter was _surprisingly_ unable to give her an answer non-verbally she pulled one out of her ass, “In the- the mid-west?”

Peter stifled a laugh by coughing a few times, “The, uh, the mid-west of Queens that is.”

“Yes, the mid-west of Queens,” Michelle forced out the unconvincing lie. “That’s where my Petey is from,” Michelle said with yet another fake giggle as she squeezed his hand again. Peter was pretty sure she was cutting off the circulation to his hand with her vice-like grip.

“Aight, you guys are sticking to your story, huh? Okay, well I’ll see you both at eleven o’clock Monday morning for your scheduled interview so you guys better get your stories straight by then,” He made a quick note of their scheduled appointment time on a sticky note as he spoke then passed it to Peter.

“Thank you, sir- sir Wilson. Mr Wilson. Thank you, Mr Wilson,” Peter stuttered out nervously as he slid the note into his jacket pocket.

"I'll be seeing you!" Mr Wilson called out, slightly threateningly to Peter who was leaving the office to try and catch up with Michelle.

 

* * *

 

Peter held the front doors of the immigration office open for Michelle, who walked through them without looking up from her cell phone which was already back in her hands as she was once again typing away on it.

“So what’s gonna happen is: we’ll go to your aunt’s birthday thing on Friday evening and pretend we’re boyfriend and girlfriend then we’ll announce that we’re engaged by the end of the night so we get it over and done-“ she finally looked up from her phone when she noticed that Peter had walked ahead of her, clearly not listening to a word she was saying.

“Are you even listening to me?”

“I’m sorry were you not in that room?” Peter asked incredulously at the blasé, calm manner with which she was handling all this.

Michelle paused for a moment trying to think about what he could’ve meant. “Oh, you mean the promotion thing? That was smart Parker, he totally fell for it too,” she expelled air from her nose loudly, the closest Peter had seen to her laughing in the years he'd worked for her, before going back to her phone.

“I was being serious Michelle. I’m looking at a two hundred and fifty thousand dollar fine and five years in jail, that kinda changes things.”

“Promotion to a photojournalist?” Michelle snorted. “You have no prior experience working as a photographer for any publication or even as a photographer period- I don’t think so.”

“I have no experience because I need experience to even get a job so I have the experience in the first place!" Peter protested with a shout.

Michelle didn't budge, and carried on typing on her phone unbothered by his mini outburst.

"Well then, I quit and you’re going back home to Canada,” Peter turned to walk away.

“Peter! Peter! Peter, wait!”

Peter carried on walking away at a slow pace to give her time to change her mind.

“Okay, fine!” she huffed out defeatedly causing him to stop in his tracks and turn back around to face her. “I’ll make you a photographer, whatever. Once we get through this weekend and the interview on Monday I’ll give you a job as a permanent in-house photojournalist, happy?”

Peter figured he was in the better position in this negotiation so he pressed further, “And like, right away too not in a couple years’ time or anything like that.”

Michelle exhaled like it pained her to agree to these terms she deemed ludicrous. She’d figured saving him from being fired by Flash was enough of a thank you for agreeing to be her fake husband. “Okay, fine.”

“And I wanna actually have my photos published, I don’t wanna just have the job in title alone.”

“I mean they have to be good-“

“They’ll be good, trust me. I love and respect the paper and what you're doing with it, I wouldn't ruin that by making you put shitty pictures in it,” Peter reassured. “Also, we’ll tell my family about the engagement when I want and how I want. Now, ask me nicely.”

Michelle narrowed her eyes in confusion, “Ask you nicely what?”

“Ask me nicely to marry you, Michelle,” Peter requested simply.

Michelle snorted a few times in disbelief in response to his request but stopped when she noticed Peter watching her, waiting.

“Wait, are you for real?”

“Yes. Look, you might have your own personal views on marriage and I respect that but it’s really important to me that even though this marriage is a sham we do parts of it in a way that feels right to me. This whole marriage thing is something that’s important to me even if it’s not to you, so if it’s all the same to you…” he explained quietly, staring down at the ground.

There was a quiet, tense moment where Michelle considered her options whilst Peter was regretting even bringing it up at all- he doesn’t know why it was so important to him that Michelle properly propose to him. This wasn't real.

What felt like minutes but was likely only about forty-five seconds at most stretched on, with Peter starting to grow increasingly embarrassed, before Michelle finally sighed defeatedly, “Okay.”

Michelle crouched down and got down on both knees, her tight pencil skirt preventing her from going on just the one traditional knee.

“Whoa, whoa, Michelle what are you doing? You don’t have to-“ Peter crouched down slightly to try and help her up off the ground. Sure he wanted her to ask him to marry her nicely, but he didn’t mean that she should get down on her knees on the disgusting New York sidewalk in her expensive suit.

“Peter, stop. I’m doing what you want okay, just- just _shut up and let me propose to you_.”

Peter cleared his throat as he stood up straight again, his awkward posture radiating the great embarrassment he was feeling right now as a few passers-by- _clearly not New Yorkers who knew to mind their own business_ \- started slowing in their tracks to look at the two who made quite the bizarre image with Michelle in her business suit kneeling on the ground whilst Peter was stood in front of her, scratching the back of his neck with a mixture of nerves and embarrassment coupled with the fact that he didn’t know what to do with his hands.

“Peter, uh- wait, what’s your middle name again?” Michelle asked in a whisper.

Peter rolled his eyes, “It’s Ben. Benjamin, actually.”

“Okay,” she cleared her throat to re-start, “Peter Benjamin Parker, my one true love, my sweet, sweet, sweetheart-“ Peter gave her a pointed look of disgust at how thickly she was laying it on to which she at least had the decency to look apologetic, so she stopped then tried again. “Peter Benjamin Parker, will you do me the honor of being my husband?”

She had a small smile on her face that actually seemed genuine unlike the other fake ones she’d had since announcing their fake engagement to the world this morning, that Peter was slightly taken aback by it and he took a little too long to respond to her.

“Peter this concrete isn’t great on the knees,” Michelle huffed out exasperatedly when Peter still hadn’t said anything is response and was just watching her with slight awe like a dumbass.

Peter snapped out of whatever _that_ was, “Yes, yes Michelle I’ll be your husband now that you’ve asked _so nicely_.”

Michelle only rolled her eyes as she reached both hands up for Peter to help her up which he did, then he reached down to grab her very expensive purse off the ground whilst she straightened her jacket out and smoothed her skirt down.

“Okay so I’ll come and pick you up tomorrow, say late afternoon? Then I’ll drive us to your aunt’s,” Michelle had already gotten her phone out of her bag and was already back on it, no longer looking up at Peter as she spoke.

“Actually you should come in the morning so we go over some things and get our stories straight before we have to face May," Peter shuddered and had a slightly far away, glassy look like he was terrified of what his guardian's reaction would be to all this. He finally snapped out of it, "Oh and one more thing, May’s birthday is like a whole weekend thing so it’s not gonna just be a quick “ _hi we’re boyfriend and girlfriend and also we’re engaged, okay bye_ ” type of thing, be prepared for a packed weekend,” Peter announced hurriedly before swiftly turning to head off in his own direction before Michelle could protest too much.

“Wait Peter, that was not part of our agreement you little sh-“ she tried to protest.

“Okay seeyoutomorrowbye!” Peter quickened his steps slightly to make a hasty getaway from the wrath of his boss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally said "you won't have to wait ages between updates" then let nearly two weeks pass between updates lol, I'm so sorry things just kept coming up which meant I didn't have time to edit this. I'm really sorry again but I hope you enjoy this somewhat even if it probably wasn't worth the wait. As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated!!
> 
> I can be found on tumblr @tvfanatic97-2 or on twitter @dayaspsychic, should you want to interact with my dumbass self elsewhere x


	3. Chapter 3

For the first time in years Peter had the Friday off work because Michelle had decided to take some time off whilst they finalised legalising their “engagement”. He’d spent the previous night once he got home working to move all her meetings and appointments to after their scheduled interview as well as having a long phone conversation with May about how he was not _only_  now coming to her birthday festivities but, was also bringing a guest with him.

May had gotten very excited at that, probing him with questions about who he was bringing and why he hadn’t told her he was seeing someone before now. Peter tried to calm her down and answer all her questions without mentioning that it was Michelle that he was bringing or telling her about their pseudo-engagement.

He knew May would have things to say if he told her it was Michelle he was bringing and he wanted to avoid the drama and he also didn’t want to tell her about the engagement over the phone since he figured him and Michelle were now in this together and so would tell everyone together- plus, this was not the type of news you broke over the phone.

All in all, the work stuff and his lengthy conversation with May had taken him hours to do and he didn’t get to sleep until very late meaning he slept through his usual work alarm and only woke up at near midday to Michelle buzzing from downstairs to be let in.

“Give me a sec, I’ll come meet you downstairs,” he spoke quietly into the intercom, his voice still slightly groggy from sleep.

Michelle snorted on the other end, “I can get the elevator up to your apartment all by myself Peter, I don’t need you to come and hold my hand.”

“Yeah okay, it’s number 58.”

“If I didn’t know that how would I have buzzed your apartment, dumbass?” She teased, well, he assumed it was teasing but honestly Michelle thought of him as being stupid so...

“7th floor,” Peter stated, electing to ignore her jab, before he hung up on her. It was uncharacteristically rude of him to just hang up like that but he was still half-asleep, or at least that was his excuse.

He turned to his bathroom to grab his toothbrush and some toothpaste so he could quickly brush his teeth and would at least not have to face Michelle with morning breath on top of his unkempt appearance since he’d literally just rolled out of bed.

He finished brushing his teeth and also managed to quickly splash some water on his face and Michelle still hadn’t reached his apartment which was strange so he decided to go and check the stairwell to see if she’d chosen to take the stairs instead.

“I’ve heard a lot about you Michelle,” Mrs González was saying to Michelle when Peter opened his front door.

The older woman was stood in the path from the elevator to Peter’s door, clearly having cornered Michelle as she stepped off the elevator to trap her into a conversation.

Peter’s eyes widened in panic as they darted back and forth between the two women. His mouth went dry as he had a brief moment where his life flashed before his eyes as he imagined Mrs González telling Michelle some of the less than savoury things he’d said about her out of anger, it was this panic that drove him to speak up interrupting the conversation between them before it could go any further, “Michelle! You’re here, hi. This- this is, uh, Mrs González my neighbor.”

Michelle smiled knowingly at him like she could see that he was petrified of the kind of things his neighbor could potentially reveal to her, her eyes briefly scanning over his bare torso for long enough for Peter to notice her ogling before they travelled back up to his face, “I know, we were just getting to know each other before you rudely interrupted.” Michelle levelled him with a pointed look.

“Peter, with everything you’ve told me about your boss you never truly did her beauty justice,” Mrs González addressed Peter, finally breaking up their staring contest.

Peter involuntarily blushed furiously at that- he hated how easily blood rushed to his face whenever he was even remotely embarrassed as it provided clear evidence of said embarrassment to those around him that he didn’t want to know he was embarrassed, like Michelle for example.

Michelle tore her gaze away from Peter to look at the older woman again, “Oh you’re too kind Mrs González. I was starting to get jealous whenever _Pete_ would talk about his lovely, beautiful neighbor and now I see I had every reason to be jealous.”

Mrs González giggled happily at Michelle’s compliment, “Oh Michelle, please feel free to call me Maria.”

Peter looked between the two, confused by the whole interaction. Since when was Michelle so charming and so… _nice_? And why was Mrs González eating it up even after everything he’d told her about Michelle- the _traitor_.

This was weird. Peter thus decided to cut it short before things got even weirder, “Mrs González, we actually have some work we need to do so I’ll have to stop you guys’ flirting."

“It was so nice to meet you Maria,” Michelle bid farewell as she stepped around the woman and walked towards Peter who was stood in the open doorway.

“You too Michelle,” She said with a wide smile. She turned to Peter, “You should bring Michelle to dinner sometime. She’s so lovely and not at all the bitch you said-“

Peter interjected to stop her finishing that sentence, “Okay, bye Mrs González! C’mon Michelle.” He put a hand on her lower back to guide her into the apartment before he quickly shut the door behind them just in case his neighbor was going to blurt out anything else he’d told her in presumed confidence.

“Been telling everyone about what a bitch I am have you, _babe_?” Michelle asked, more amused than annoyed by the revelation.

“Don’t call me babe,” Peter said as he moved to help her remove her jacket.

“But why _babe_? You seem like the kind of sentimental person who’d love a gross pet name like “babe” or “honey” or “munchkin”.”

“‘ _Munchkin_ ’?” Peter repeated, the disgust in his voice clear.

“It’s fitting since, you know- you’re so _small_ ,” Michelle retorted.

Peter closed his eyes and exhaled, calming himself down. “Let’s just- why don’t we just work on getting our stories straight. I’m just gonna, uh-” gestured awkwardly to his bare top half, “uh, yeah…be right back. So sit, um, I mean, you can sit on the couch.” He finished awkwardly, clearing his throat to dispel some of the unnecessary tension.

Michelle had already sat down on his small couch before he finished talking and already had her phone out. Peter understood that she was editor-in-chief for a successful paper but did she really always need to be on her phone typing? She probably slept with her phone in her hands, constantly typing away he’d bet.

“Do you want breakfast? I have, uh-“ Peter had moved to the adjoining kitchen area after throwing on the first clean t-shirt he came across, rifling through his fridge and cupboards to see what he had to offer, “I have a single egg and two pop-tarts.” Michelle made him work very long hours and he hadn’t had the time to go grocery shopping, sue him.

Michelle grimaced slightly at the clear variety of food on offer, “I already ate.”

“Suit yourself,” Peter mumbled more to himself as he popped the remaining two untoasted pop-tarts in his mouth like a sugary sandwich, too hungry and impatient to take the time to toast it.

He walked back to the living area to join her on the small couch as he finished off the pop-tart. He rubbed his hands on his pajama bottoms quickly then grabbed a folder sat on his mini coffee table, “So, these are the questions that the USCIS is gonna ask us. Now, the good news is I know everything about you but the bad news is that you have four days to learn all this about me so, you should…“

The rest of Peter’s words died down as Michelle snatched the folder out of his hands to flick through it herself. “You say that like you’re this dark and mysterious man, Peter.”

“Well- you thought I was from the mid-west,” Peter reminded her teasingly.

“Obviously not when you have a Queens accent, I just panicked.”

“The great Michelle Jones panicked?” Peter was surprised by her admission.

Michelle ignored his comment and started looking through the list of questions he’d compiled the previous night when he found himself unable to sleep thinking about how he was probably gonna go to jail. “So you know all the answers to these questions about me?”

“It’s what you pay me for, right?”

“Bit creepy,” Michelle joked. “Let me test your knowledge: what am I allergic to?”

“Pine nuts. And old white men.”

Michelle barely contained a smirk at his old white men comment before she carried on with her quizzing, “Do I have any scars?”

“Well…” Peter paused taking a moment to consider if he should say what he wanted he wanted to say or if it would come off as creepy, “I’m pretty sure you have a tattoo.”

Michelle paused her browsing and looked up to him with her eyes comically wide like he’d caught her off-guard with that tidbit of information before she seemed to catch herself and her face was back to its usual expression of disinterest. “And how would you know that?” she asked with her eyes narrowed.

“Two years ago your dermatologist called and asked about a Q-switched laser. I googled a Q-switch laser and found that they’re used to remove tattoos _but_ you cancelled your appointment.”

“You’ve solved the case, Sherlock,” Michelle sarcastically praised him.

Peter looked at her then back down at his lap then back at her a few times like he was deciding whether or not to say what he was thinking, which Michelle noticed him doing. “They’re not gonna ask you about my tattoo, Peter. Stop it.”

“There _is_ something I don’t know about you,” Peter broached quietly.

“I thought you said you knew everything about me, _babe_?”

“Do you- do you have any family?” Peter asked nervously.

Michelle looked up from the file, “Yeah, why wouldn’t I?” She asked incredulously.

“I, uh, it’s just that-“

“What? You figured that a career-driven woman like me probably has no family and that’s why I’m so dedicated to my job and always at the office? Because I obviously have no one and am not just ambitious and hardworking like you’d assume for a man in my position?”

“No, I-” Peter defended himself.

“Or maybe, I just love money,” MJ continued.

 “No, that’s- that’s not what I think. Of course that’s not what I meant. I just meant because you’ve never mentioned them before.”

Michelle looked at him, confused, “My parents are happily married and I have two older siblings, but why would I mention my family to my assistant?”

“I’ve talked about mine to you,” Peter tried to reason.

“That’s just because you overshare and don’t know how to keep your personal life separate and be professional at work,” Michelle sighed out exasperatedly, as she went back to flicking through the folder. Peter had added pages with facts about him to answer the USCIS questions for Michelle’s convenience.

“It’s called small talk, boss.”

“Nauseating.” Michelle shuddered. After a pause, “Have you told Maria that we’re supposedly engaged?” Michelle referred to his neighbor by first name with such ease as if they were old friends.

“Uh…“

Michelle interrupted as she carried on, “-because the immigration people may want to speak to her.”

“I haven’t told her-“ Michelle looked up from the folder and eyed him like a disappointed parent, making Peter nervous. “I’m gonna do it though, after this weekend,” he rushed out.

“Have you been seeing anyone over the past few months, or brought people back here that she would have seen?”

“Um, what?” Peter stuttered, trying to process if he’d heard her right.

“Girlfriends, boyfriends, sexual partners- have you had any recently?” Michelle questioned further, keeping her tone even and slow like she was talking to a child.

Peter cleared his throat nervously, “Uh, no. No I haven’t had any of _that_ in a while.” He instinctively scratched the back of his neck nervously at having to discuss his romantic life with his boss. By “in a while” he also meant for nearly the same amount of time as he had been working for Michelle, but she didn’t need to know that; she already thought he was pathetic enough.

“Huh…” Michelle noted then she carried on going through facts about him without saying anything further.

After a few minutes she noticed him dumbly staring at her, “You’re not just gonna watch me read through all of this, are you?”

“Uh, what? No, I was just-“ Peter stuttered trying to come up with an explanation.

Michelle interrupted his fumbling, “Go shower and get dressed.”

Even away from the office, in a non-professional setting, Michelle was still able to command Peter to do whatever she wanted and so he found himself getting off the couch and heading to his bathroom to shower and get ready exactly like she’d instructed.

 

* * *

 

By 1pm, less than an hour later, Michelle had finished going over the information about him and she felt satisfied that she knew him inside out. Unfortunately for her, Peter had insisted they spend a few more hours going over it all, with him quizzing her on his life.

They’d paused for a couple of hours when Mrs González had knocked on Peter’s door to drop off the Tupperware of food she’d made him the previous night as a thank you. Though it was quite clearly a transparent excuse to snoop on the pair, if the way she kept trying to look into his apartment as she was talking to Peter was anything to go by. So Peter promptly accepted the food then made an excuse about them needing to work before politely dismissing her.

After the brief lunch interlude, Peter had further insisted on them going over the story of how they went from being boss and employee to girlfriend and boyfriend to being engaged, along with going over all the milestones of their fake relationship like when they started dating and when they got engaged. Michelle had grumbled the whole way through, not seeing why it was necessary for them to go over all this again and again and in such sickening detail. Peter was however adamant they get their stories straight before they went to May’s because she’d be able to see right through their sham of an engagement if there was even just one hole in their story; that woman knew Peter _too_ well.

Peter was only satisfied that they were ready for their USCIS interview and more importantly, ready to face his guardian, many hours later once it was around 5:30pm then they left for May’s after a quick detour to Michelle’s apartment, at Peter’s insistence again, to grab a weekend bag because she hadn’t bothered to pack since “we live in the same city as your aunt, why would I sleep at her place when I can just drive back to my own comfy bed?” But she didn’t know May the way he did.

“Are you sure you’re ready for this,” Peter asked from where he was stood fidgeting nervously next to Michelle in the elevator up to his aunt’s apartment. He was practically bouncing with nerves causing further strain on the ancient elevator and causing it to make rickety sounds that were worrying.

“For the millionth time, yes, I am ready,” she couldn’t help but roll her eyes at how nervous he was acting. If he greeted his aunt with all the nerves and anxiety thrumming beneath the surface like right now then she’d _definitely_ see right through their bullshit engagement so Michelle decided to try a different tactic to help calm him down as quickly as she could in the two minutes before they were to face May.

“Look Peter, memorising all these facts about you and about our supposed relationship is like a school quiz or test and I excelled in standardised testing at school so you have nothing to worry about, okay?” she placed a hand over his shoulder to punctuate the intended calming effect of her words.

It worked like a charm as she felt him physically relax beneath her hand, his shoulders less tense, and he also stopped bouncing with nerves, and just in time too as the elevator slowed to a stop soon after.

Michelle seemed to remember herself as she snatched her hand away from Peter’s shoulder after her uncharacteristic display of gentleness and warmth.

Peter seemed equally surprised by her offering physical comfort as it took him a second too long to kick into action before he finally crouched down to grab his own weekend bag with one hand whilst he dragged Michelle’s small wheeled suitcase with the other and walked ahead before the elevator doors closed again.

“Here goes nothing,” Peter let go of the handle of her case before he reached over to ring the apartment doorbell with those famous last words.

Suddenly Michelle was the one now feeling nervous as she realised they were really going through with this and she had no time to panic like Peter had done throughout the day as they heard a muffled “coming” from behind the closed door followed shortly by light footfalls approaching them.

In a panic, Michelle quickly grabbed Peter’s free hand to place it in her own. “Shut up,” she whispered in warning when she noticed his wide-eyed stare at their joined hands right before the door swung open.

“Peter!” May joyously exclaimed, immediately going forward to hug him. Peter stepped forward at the same time, releasing Michelle’s hand, as he reached out to hug her. “Aw, it’s so good to see you Peter! I’m so glad that boss of yours-“

“May-“ Peter attempted to interrupt her before she could say any more.

His warning went unheeded as she carried on, “-finally decided to give you time off.”

“Uh-“ Peter desperately tried again to stop her, he didn’t like where this was going.

“My God, someone must have finally removed the stick up her ass, am I right?” May said with a laugh as she finally pulled away from their hug, slapping his arm in good humour.

“May, this is- this is Michelle, my _boss_ ,” Peter finally introduced awkwardly, eyeing the floor with interest as he refused to meet Michelle’s eye to see her reaction to his aunt’s words or meet his aunt’s gaze to see her reaction to this development. “And uh, my-“ he paused as he garnered the strength to say the words, “-my _girlfriend_.”

“Oh,” was all May said in response which made Peter panic enough to finally look up just in time to see May sizing Michelle up.

In all the time Peter had worked for Michelle he had never once seen her look nervous, not when she had to speak to some disreputable individuals when chasing up a story or when authorities were intimidating her to get her to reveal a source. Not _once_. That was until the moment where they were stood at the entrance of his childhood apartment with his aunt who raised him sizing Michelle up for a moment that seemed to stretch on for hours. Michelle had about a foot on May height-wise but at that moment she practically shrunk away from the woman’s gaze, and her nerves made her seem even smaller.

After a tense few seconds, May seemed to reach some satisfactory conclusions from taking Michelle in and she finally said more, “Michelle, it’s so lovely to meet you!”

“It’s great to meet you too and, uh, thank you for allowing me to join your birthday celebrations this weekend,” her voice came out barely above a whisper. Peter may have even revelled in getting to see Michelle like this for once had he not been a bundle of nerves himself.

“Of course, of course. Well, come on through guys.” May finally moved aside to let the pair into the apartment.

Once they were all in and had taken off shoes and jackets, they walked through the apartment with May leading them. “So you guys will be in Peter’s old room,” she turned back to look at Michelle, “Don’t worry I got rid of most of his old stuff and put in new furniture so you won’t have to sleep on a bunk bed.”

Michelle nervously giggled, very unsure of herself in a way that was taking some getting used to for Peter.

“You, um, you have a very lovely home,” Michelle complimented. Small talk was very unlike her.

“Oh, thank you Michelle. It’s kinda small and shitty but I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else you know; this place just has so much _history_ ,” May sighed sadly, getting lost in her own memories for a moment.

Peter rubbed her shoulder soothingly, “Hey, I’ll show Michelle to my room. We’ll join you in a sec, okay?”

“Okay well I’d started on dinner so I’ll just carry on with that in the meantime.”

“You started on dinner?” Peter asked curiously.

“Well- I mean, I’ve got all the ingredients out on the counter and I’ve chopped all the vegetables ready for you to cook, sure,” May said with a slight giggle.

Peter shook his head fondly before gently guiding Michelle in the direction of his bedroom with a hand to her lower back, “C’mon Mi- _babe_ , this way.”

The two of them went ahead to Peter’s old bedroom which had since been stripped of his old bunk bed and desk and all his various action figures and posters that used to adorn the walls and shelves. All that now remained was a double bed that was pushed against the wall in the corner of the room with a bedside table and a small wardrobe in the corner of the room.

“Shame your aunt took away all your childhood stuff, I wanted to see all your embarrassing nerdy toys,” Michelle teased, finally sounding more like the Michelle he knew though there was still an air of nervousness still lingering in her words.

“Ha, ha.”

“So…” Michelle started as she perched on the bed whilst he put their bags away in the empty wardrobe. “You just go round saying shit about me to anyone who’ll listen, huh?”

Peter gulped nervously, pausing to think about how to respond. He exhaled then, “Look Michelle, sometimes I feel a little overworked and stagnant career-wise so I need to vent and you always come up since you’re my boss. It’s not like, you know, personal or anything.”

Michelle regarded him for a second, weighing up whether she was buying his reasoning before she finally made her mind up, “You can at least show people pictures of me so they have a face to go with your stories, Parker.”

Peter snorted slightly but didn’t say anything further on the matter. “Um, so, I’ll leave you to change whilst I go and start on dinner.”

“Change?”

“Because, you’re, you know-“ Peter stumbled over his words trying to think of the best way to point out that her pant suit wasn’t exactly lounge wear one wore around the house. But maybe she did wear it around her house, she may have had work suits and suits for around the house for all he knew. Peter stopped his train of thought, “Just into something more comfortable, I meant. But uh- I’m just gonna…” he gestured vaguely to outside the bedroom before stepping out awkwardly.

Peter started cooking the vegetables May had chopped up whilst May was stood opposite him, leaning against the kitchen counter as she sipped on a glass of red wine.

“Girlfriend?” She asked with no preamble. He should’ve known this was coming. He just hoped Michelle would come out before this line of questioning could go any further.

“It’s been happening for some months now.” Even with his back turned to her as he stirred the sauce he could feel the intensity of her glare so he decided to elaborate, “I didn’t say anything because I knew you wouldn’t like me being in a relationship with my boss. Y’know, weird power dynamics and all.”

“And all the times you constantly complained about her?”

“We agreed to keep the relationship a secret until recently so I was just keeping up the secret…” Peter kept his back turned away from May, not wanting to risk turning to face her and have her see all the tells on his face. The nervous smile, the bead of sweat on his forehead and the reddening of the cheeks that he got each time he told a lie. May had two decades of practice in detecting his lies so she’d be able to tell with just one look at his face.

“Mm-“ May was about to continue her interrogation but fortunately Michelle chose that moment to enter the kitchen, saving him.

“Sorry, I just had to deal with, um, work stuff,” Michelle apologised awkwardly. She was now dressed in black sweatpants and a grey hoodie that looked suspiciously like the sweatpants and hoodie he’d packed in his bag.

 _Huh_.

He didn’t know what to make of her in his clothes, with the sweatpants a little short on her and coming to just above her ankles whilst the hoodie drowned her frame. He supposed this was just a normal fake-girlfriend thing to do so he tried not to focus on it too much.

“So editor-in-chief at just 29, huh?” May asked, pretending as if she hadn’t just been trying to sus out the legitimacy of Peter and Michelle’s relationship a second earlier.

The pair carried on talking whilst Peter prepared dinner. He was glad they stayed in the kitchen the entire time; he wasn’t sure he could handle the idea of May being alone with Michelle.

 

* * *

 

Once dinner was ready they all settled on the small table in the living/dining area.

“You know, Peter made this vegetarian recipe especially for you,” May addressed Michelle as she dished into her plate. “He told me on the phone yesterday, then he texted me three times to day to make sure I remembered you were vegetarian.”

“Oh,” Michelle nervously tucked a lock of hair that had escaped her bun. “Peter is always so thoughtful and considerate,” she admitted though she said it to him rather to his aunt.

They ate their food over the next hour, with May doing most of the talking whilst both Peter and Michelle barely said a word. Both too nervous.

When they were done Peter volunteered to load the dishwasher and he did it in record time not wanting to leave the two women alone for too long.

Once he was done they all settled on the couches, with May taking the armchair so the couple could sit next to each other.

“Peter I forgot to tell you, Tony is throwing a little get together tomorrow,” May casually mentioned like it wasn’t a big deal.

Tony Stark never did anything “ _little_ ”.

“Tony?” Michelle asked curiously.

“Yeah Peter’s old mentor, him and Peter were really close when he was younger. He insisted that he put something together since I’m turning the 5-0.”

Peter mumbled, “Of course he did,” under his breath, not loud enough for May to hear.

“It’ll be a great chance for Peter to introduce you to everyone, Michelle,” May added.

“Oh, good. That’s- that’s _great_.” When Michelle had come up with the whole engaged to her assistant thing on the spot the day before simply as a way to keep her job she figured they’d only tell a small close circle of people about it so it was easier once they eventually got a divorce. Going to what sounded suspiciously like a birthday party with Parker's friends and family and this Tony guy was the exact opposite of that of small close circle.

They stayed in the living room for a couple more hours, making small talk and watching TV until May left to go to bed leaving Peter and Michelle alone.

“I can sleep on the couch if you want,” Peter was first to bring up the elephant in the room regarding their sleeping arrangement.

“We’re meant to be a couple, why would we not sleep together in your old bedroom?” Michelle asked, keeping the volume of her voice low in case May heard her, whilst trying to convey the incredulous tone she was going for in response to his dumb suggestion.

“I just, um…if you’re okay with it…then…yeah,” Peter mumbled not really forming a full sentence.

Michelle simply rolled her eyes at him before she reached over to switch the television off before she headed to the bedroom, with Peter trailing behind her as he always did.

“Um, I’ll just uh-“ he gesticulated awkwardly trying to communicate that he was going to the bathroom to change into his pajamas since he’d apparently lost his ability to speak.

Once he’d changed and brushed his teeth he came back to find Michelle having changed into a pink silk shirt and shorts set that had red love hearts all over it that he would have _never_ in a million years imagined his boss- who he’d only ever seen wearing formal business wear that only ranged from grey to black color palette-wise- owning, much less actually wearing. 

If Michelle noticed his gawking she chose to ignore it as she squeezed past him to go to the bathroom with her toothbrush in one hand and a bottle of what looked like face wash in the other.

Peter awkwardly got into the bed, lying on the side closest to the door, as he considered what position to lie in so it didn’t look like he was waiting for her or something.

He was adjusting his position for the tenth time when Michelle spoke, startling him since he hadn't realised she was back, “You’re on my side.”

“I-“ Peter tried to protest but came up with nothing so found himself scooting along to right up against the wall to maintain a sizeable distance between them.

Michelle climbed in beneath the covers and slept as close to the edge of the bed as she could without falling off, also trying to keep her distance.

They fell asleep like that, on opposite ends of the bed with a good foot or so distance between them.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this latest installment. As always, comments and kudos are greatly appreciated. Edit- thank you to Amaranth for correcting my lazy/ignorant self about the INS no longer existing so I've edited that (also I've realised in the film they refer to the INS and yet it came out a whole 7 years after the INS was dissolved lol)
> 
> And also as per, you can find me on tumblr @tvfanatic97-2 and on twitter @dayaspsychic if you like x


	4. Chapter 4

Peter was the first to wake up.

Upon waking up he immediately noticed how he was enveloped in warmth- _no_ \- he was enveloped in someone’s arms. He took a moment to telegraph his surroundings and realised his limbs were entangled with someone else’s. He also realised that instead of sleeping on their respective ends of the bed, the two had both drifted into the centre of the bed and had slept cuddled up together, with Michelle spooning him from behind, her entire frame wrapped around his smaller one.

Peter had a moment of panic, unsure of what to do. She had her arms wrapped tightly around him meaning he couldn’t slip out of her grasp without waking her and he absolutely did not want to do that then have to see her horrified reaction to their position.

He tried to gently untangle his limbs from her own but they were so firmly tangled within her own that he couldn’t do that without waking her either.

In the end he settled on just pretending to sleep until she woke up and moved away from him first.

Only about five minutes later, Michelle’s alarm that she had set on her cell phone went off causing her to startle awake. Peter for his part kept his eyes closed to maintain the façade of him still being asleep.

He nervously waited for a moment as Michelle presumably re-orientated her sleep muddled brain to where she was and who she was with. Once she did he felt her detangle their legs then abruptly move back to her side of the bed and he took this as his cue to pretend to wake up.

He fake yawned for effect, then stretched before turning to face her unimpressed face.

“Why did you move to my side of the bed?” She asked without so much as a “good morning” or any other customary greeting.

“I-“ Peter started to protest, considering whether it was worth mentioning that he knew that they were cuddling in their sleep but Michelle didn’t give him the chance to jump to his own defence as she just scoffed before getting out of the bed and grabbing a towel and a bag of toiletries before leaving for the bathroom.

Peter stayed in bed for a moment before he had the mortifying thought of what it’d look like if Michelle came back from her shower, _naked_ , to find him waiting in the bedroom like a creep. That mortifying thought spurred him to get out of bed and go and start on a cooked breakfast for everyone after he’d quickly made the bed.

He was making pancakes for everyone when Michelle appeared in the kitchen, freshly showered and wrapped in a silk robe. Her hair, which was still wet, was slicked back and her face was completely makeup free making her look younger and surprisingly _softer_ in a way that was disarming.

Peter hadn’t even realised he was gawking at her, mouth agape, completely forgetting the pancakes, until he set off the smoke detector when he burnt them.

“Shit, shit,” Peter cursed under his breath as he turned back to the forgotten pancakes to remedy the situation before things got worse and other smoke alarms started going off and he woke up his aunt.

Michelle simply laughed at him for her part before perching onto a kitchen counter to observe the human disaster named Peter Parker.

“You good?” she asked him teasingly, making no move to help him whatsoever.

“I hope you two aren’t burning down my apartment,” May announced her presence as she walked into the kitchen. She walked straight over to the small kitchen window and opened it to allow some smoke to escape.

Peter laughed nervously, “Just taking after you cooking-wise is all.”

His words earned him a smack to the back of the head from May.

“Do you cook, Michelle?” May asked out of the blue.

Michelle’s relaxed, teasing demeanour was gone and now replaced by the more nervous, shy one she always seemed to have whenever she was speaking to May. “Oh, um, no I don’t cook,” she admitted quietly, almost as if she was afraid of what the older woman’s reaction would be.

“She really doesn’t,” Peter helpfully added, thinking back to all the late nights at the office and the accompanying take out. Even when they didn’t stay in the office late, Michelle would always order take out ahead of her to her home as she was leaving. Peter wasn’t sure she even ate anything home cooked.

“Good thing we have Peter to cook for us, eh?” May stage-whispered to Michelle, winking exaggeratedly before she started gathering plates and cutlery for their breakfast.

After having made a fresh batch to replace the ones he’d burnt when he was- ahem- distracted, Peter finally switched off the cooker. He turned around to face the two women, “Is that all I am to you? A glorified personal chef?”

“Yes.”

“Absolutely,” both May and Michelle responded at the same time.

Peter huffed in faux annoyance then reached a hand out to help Michelle down from the kitchen counter before handing her the plate of pancakes. He then turned to grab a bottle of maple syrup and some butter, assuming May and Michelle would go ahead without him. But when he got everything he was after, he found Michelle still nervously waiting in the kitchen whilst May had already gone ahead. It was still weird to him to see the headstrong Michelle Jones so terrified of May like this but he chose to not comment on it.

They walked out of the kitchen together then went and settled next to each other like the previous night on the dining table.

“Tony’s driver will be here at 11:30am,” May informed then between bites of her pancakes.

“A driver?” Peter asked with a roll of the eyes, the distaste in his voice evident.

Michelle briefly glanced at Peter questioningly, still trying to figure out who this “Tony” guy was who was apparently throwing May some extravagant 50th birthday party and was sending a driver to come and pick them up. Her questioning look went mostly ignored by Peter.

“You know how he is, Peter,” May said with a small, sad smile. There was something Michelle was missing here.

“Yep,” Peter stated simply before hurriedly finishing off his pancakes. “I’m gonna go shower,” He gathered his plate and cutlery as well as Michelle’s once he noticed that she was finished then headed for the kitchen without another word.

Michelle was left alone, sitting awkwardly with May so she made her escape also, “I’ll just go and get dressed.”

Peter went to his old bedroom and found Michelle already there, perched on the bed.

“Uh, what are you- why are you here? I mean, you know I came here to shower and, uh,” he awkwardly cleared his throat, “-get undressed.”

Michelle rolled her eyes at him, which was pretty much her default reaction to everything Peter said. “Relax, Peter. We’re meant to be a couple, remember? It’d be weirder for me to wait in the other room whilst you got changed,” she paused before her tone turned to a more teasing one, “Unless your aunt thinks you’re never felt the touch of a romantic partner before.”

“I-“ Peter sputtered for a moment before deciding to change tacks, “I think you’re just hiding out here because you’re scared of my aunt.”

“Can you just go and shower so I can get dressed,” Michelle dismissed, pivoting away from Peter pointing out the embarrassing truth.

Peter smiled triumphantly as he walked out to head to the bathroom.

By the time he finished showering, Michelle was still in her robe but had put on her usual light makeup and she’d put her hair into a slicked ponytail, though she remained in her gown.

“Um, I need to get dressed now…” Peter gestured awkwardly to the clothes he’d laid out on the bed.

“Peter, how many times do I have to point out that we’re meant to be a couple?”

Peter sighed defeatedly when he released she wasn’t going to leave, “Well, can you at least turn around?”

“It’s not like you have anything I haven’t seen before,” she teased but when she got no reaction from Peter she huffed out a “Fine” before turning to sit facing out the window with her phone in her hand.

Peter tried to get ready as fast as he could and had managed to get his slacks on and was just pulling a white t-shirt on when Michelle turned around once again, “Are you about done?” She asked impatiently.

Peter pulled his t-shirt down the rest of the way before speaking, “Do you mind?”

“Can you hurry up? I need to get dressed.”

Peter scoffed a few times, “So I have to leave when you want to get dressed but it’s totally fine for you to be here when I’m getting dressed? What happened to “ _we’re meant to be a couple, Peter_ ”?”

“Are you about done?” Michelle’s tone was that of boredom.

“No I am not actually,” Peter said with a petulant tone.

He spent longer than necessary getting his shoes and socks on, styling his hair and finally putting some cologne on just to piss her off until she got up off the bed to practically push him out of the room, “Get out!”

 

* * *

 

When Michelle finally emerged from the bedroom once she was done, it was nearly time to go.

“The driver is here early, so we’re heading out soon,” Peter told her as he took her suitcase from her whilst she leaned down to buckle up her shoes.

May walked out of her bedroom at the same time with her right wrist held out dramatically, “How do I look?”

“Gorgeous,” Peter complimented. “Michelle was right, the bracelet was a good birthday present,” Peter commented, his eyes briefly flitting to Michelle, begging her to go along with his lie.

“You guys have great taste,” May assured. “Also I’m loving this whole thing,” She gestured vaguely to their clothing.

Peter and Michelle looked down at their outfits, Peter in a navy suit and a white t-shirt whilst Michelle was wearing a white blouse and a navy pencil skirt. They had unintentionally co-ordinated their outfits.

Peter awkwardly cleared his throat, embarrassed and unsure how to respond, “We should- we should get going.”

May simply smiled knowingly before she walked ahead of the pair to head downstairs, leaving Peter and Michelle to lock up after her.

When they got to the front of the apartment building they found a non-descript black sedan waiting for them with a man, the driver presumably, in a black suit and black sunglasses waiting for them.

“Peter, what the fuck?” Michelle whispered quietly to him in question, she was so confused. Peter didn’t say anything in response.

“At least it wasn’t a limo this year,” May joked as she got into the passenger seat after handing off her bag to the driver, leaving the couple to pack their own bags into the trunk then get into the back seat.

They rode mostly in silence, with the radio softly playing in the background and May occasionally making small talk with the driver

Eventually, they pulled up to a large gate where the driver stopped then opened the window to speak into the comm as well as scan his finger print on the console by the gate which caused the gate to slide open so they could drive through.

“What is this?” Michelle once again questioned Peter, looking out of the window at the extensive estate they had pulled into.

“Tony’s place,” Peter replied simply.

They drove past a landing strip that had two jets that looked familiar to Michelle and that’s when it finally clicked. The Avengers’ Quinjets she’d seen on the news. “ _Tony Stark_. Your mentor is Tony Stark?” she asked in an angry whisper not wanting May to hear her.

Peter simply shrugged before unbuckling his seat belt once they pulled into a parking spot. He quickly got out of the car to open Michelle door whilst the driver got May’s door before Michelle could question him some more. The driver assured them their bags would be taken up to their rooms before bidding them farewell.

May walked ahead as the couple trailed behind her and Michelle took this as her opportunity to question Peter some more. “You didn’t tell me you know Tony fucking Stark!”

“I don’t. Well- I mean, I don’t anymore.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“Nothing,” Peter dismissed as he looked around at the tens and tens of cars around them in the parking lot. “May, I thought you said this was a small birthday get together. What is this?”

“It’s been years since you’ve come here so it’s kind of a welcome home thing for you too. It’s not a big deal, Peter.” May tried to reassure.

When they walked into the main compound doors, they were greeted by what must have been about a hundred guests all mingling, with a live jazz band playing on a stage that had been set up near the centre of the large open floor.

May was immediately escorted off to some room with mumbling about a “birthday surprise” leaving Michelle and Peter to walk through the party. As they did, various party guests, some Michelle vaguely recognised as being members of the Avengers and others she didn’t recognise, stopped mid-conversation to greet Peter excitedly.

“What the fuck,” Michelle whispered more to herself though Peter heard her as they made their way through the crowd.

She steered them to a relatively quiet corner of the party before speaking, “When are you gonna tell people about us?”

“I’ll pick the right moment-“ Peter started to explain but was interrupted by yet another party guest noticing his presence.

“Hey, Peter. Hi!”

“Dr Cho! How are you? Nice to see you!” Peter greeted, stepping forward to hug the woman whilst Michelle stood behind him smiling awkwardly. “This is Michelle,” he introduced once he’d pulled away from the hug.

“Hi, nice to meet you,” Michelle put a firm hand forward to greet the woman and the man who was stood next to her.

“I’ve always wanted to know how does one manage to keep a print newspaper afloat in the age where people can just read the news on their phones,” Dr Cho asked the pair.

“Something I wonder myself,” a new voice announced. “We’re in the digital age after all.”

“Hello, Tony,” Peter greeted quietly.

“Peter,” Tony stretched a hand forward to shake Peter’s. He then turned to Michelle, “This must be Mary.”

“Michelle,” she corrected.

“Tony, pleasure to meet you.”

“Pleasure is all mine,” Michelle said with a smile Peter could tell was forced.

“So why don’t you tell us about how you run a physical paper when no one reads those things anymore?” Tony prompted them to continue their previous conversation.

“Well, Peter you’re a journalist,” Dr Cho gestured to him. “What’s it like?”

“Peter isn’t a journalist, he’s the assistant to Michelle here,” Tony helpfully supplied.

“Oh so you’re, you’re Peter’s boss?” The man whose name Michelle hadn’t quite caught asked with eyebrows raised.

“Interesting,” Dr Cho added.

“I’m gonna go get a re-fill,” Tony gestured to his clearly still-full glass then left them.

“Charming,” Michelle deadpanned.

Peter didn’t say anything in response and instead went after his mentor.

“What was that?” He called after him, slowing him down.

“What the hell Pete?” Tony slowed in his tracks and turned to face him. “You show up here after all this time with this woman you hated now she’s your girlfriend?”

“We just got here! Can we celebrate May’s day in peace, please?” Peter interrupted.

“I just never figured you for a guy who’d sleep his way to the middle,” Tony scoffed.

“I’ll have you know that Michelle Jones is not only one of the youngest editors of a major publication in history and one of the few black ones, but she’s one of the most respected in her field.”

“She’s your meal ticket and you brought her home to introduce her to May,” Tony said with a dismissive wave of the hand.

“She’s not my meal ticket Tony, she’s my fiancée,” Peter confidently announced.

“What’d you just say?”

Peter stepped forward slightly, feeling a surge of self-assuredness, “You heard me. We’re getting married.” He then walked off leaving a dumbfounded Tony Stark.

He headed straight for the makeshift stage and grabbed the mic from the stand, “Ladies and gentlemen I have an important announcement to make- Michelle and I are getting married.”

His words stopped Michelle dead in her tracks where she had been walking around “mingling” (read: trying her best to avoid any and all social interactions). She turned to look towards him at the stage, unsure what to do, and just stood completely frozen. Maybe if she didn’t move people wouldn’t see that she was there?

“Come on up here, _babe_ ,” Peter pointed directly towards her and gestured for her to come to him. So her tactic to stay hidden hadn’t worked.

She awkwardly shuffled through the guests who were applauding the pair to stand next to Peter.

“Congratulations, Peter,” One guest called out.

“Thank you very much,” Peter said with a forced laugh.

May re-appeared just at that moment and stepped through the crowd to come stand closer to the pair. A look of confusion marring her features though she clapped along with everyone.

Before she had the chance to catch Peter’s eye, champagne bottles were already being popped and flutes being handed out and soon the couple were swarmed by congratulatory party guests.

When they eventually got a moment to themselves in a quiet corner Michelle turned to Peter exasperatedly, “That was your idea of the perfect time to tell them we’re engaged?” She raised her flute sarcastically, “Absolutely brilliant timing, Parker.”

“Peter, hi,” yet another guest approached the couple.

Peter seemed slightly startled by her presence, “Liz-“ he immediately stepped away from Michelle to hug her. “Liz, oh my God. How have you been? I didn’t know you were gonna be here.”

“Um, well, May wanted it to be a surprise so-” she said with an awkward smile, “-surprise!”

Peter laughed nervously at her joke.

“And we’re being completely rude,” she then turned towards Michelle. “Hi.”

That seemed to snap Peter back into reality, “Oh, this is my ex, um…” he fumbled with his words as he seemed to draw a blank.

“Liz Allen,” Liz supplied.

“Yeah, yeah, Liz.”

“Congratulations you guys,” she said politely.

“Thank you,” Michelle said with a matching polite smile.

“So- did I miss the story?” She asked excitedly rubbing her hands together.

“What story?” Peter and Michelle simultaneously asked, both confused.

Liz giggled like the pair were being purposefully humorous then turned to Peter, “About how you proposed.”

Liz’s words seemed to catch the attention of May and Pepper Potts who were sat nearby.

“I’d love to hear that story too,” May said with a smile that had some meaning behind it.

More party guests gathered around them in anticipation, and chatter around them generally seemed to die down making it quieter so more people could hear this story.

“You know,” Peter started cheekily. “Michelle has always been the better story teller between the two of us, being the writer and all so I’ll leave this all to her.”

“Wow,” she said with a strained smile as she subtly stared daggers at Peter. “Where to begin this story…”

She stared at Peter for a moment before proceeding with her tale.

“Well, it was coming up to our first anniversary and I knew Peter wanted to ask me to marry him but he was too nervous to do it,” her words got a few understanding laughs from the guests gathered round.

“I tried to give him little openings in conversations to just do it, but Peter- _bless him_ \- he’s just so dense and slow,” That got a particularly loud laugh from May who Peter turned and looked at with his eyes narrowed at how she was enjoying this story a little too much for his liking.

Michelle continued spinning the tale, “Short of telling him to just propose to me I actually just decided to do it myself in the end.” That got a few “oohs” and “ahs” from their audience. “With the help of his neighbor Mrs González, I secretly set up his apartment with rose petals, candles and the works. But once Pete got home he started weeping like a baby when he saw how I’d set up the apartment before I even got the chance to pop the question,” Michelle said with a self-satisfied smirk.

“That’s- that’s not exactly how it went down-“ Peter interjected, trying to stop the laughter of the crowd. “I did _not_ weep like a baby.”

“Oh but he did,” Michelle said with a slight cooing tone. “Just profusely weeping and he didn’t stop for half an hour then I finally asked him the question and he-“

Peter jumped in again, “And I said yes and that was the end. Who’s hungry?”

“That is…quite the story,” May commented after they were done.

“Let’s see a kiss from you two!” A guest shouted, to which other guests chimed in to agree.

“No, no,” Peter awkwardly protested.

The man stepped forward, clinking his champagne flute, “Give her a kiss, Peter.”

“Sam-“

“Kiss!”

Eventually with everyone around them encouraging them to kiss Peter felt like they had to give in, “Okay, fine.” Then he grabbed hold of Michelle hand and pressed a peck to the back of it.

“Kiss her on the mouth Parker!” Sam shouted, dissatisfied with the hand kiss. “Kiss her like you mean it.”

He started slowly chanting, “Kiss her! Kiss her! Kiss her!” which other guests joined in on until they had to.

“Okay, okay, fine,” Peter conceded trying to placate the chanting crowd.

“Yeah, cool,” Michelle added awkwardly.

They turned and faced each other, unsure of how to proceed. They stood facing each other until Michelle just took the plunge and pressed her lips against his in a brief peck before immediately pulling away.

“Oh c’mon, kiss properly. We’re all adults here,” Sam protested.

Michelle subtly rolled her eyes before steeling herself to kiss him again, then she pressed forward again. Except this time the kiss was different to before. For one it lasted much longer, it was also much deeper and much more intense with Peter’s hand coming to wrap around her the small of her back to pull her in closer against his body.

They got lost in the push and pull of their tongues and Michelle’s teeth biting Peter’s lower lip slightly and they almost got carried away in the kiss until the applause of the small crowd around them brought them back to the present, to reality.

Peter and Michelle slowly pulled apart, looking at each other awkwardly, unsure what to make of the kiss. They didn’t have time to contemplate what the hell had just happened as party guests came up to them to congratulate them one by one.

“Aw look, they’re even wearing matching outfits,” Sam slurred causing another round of applause to break out.

One of the other guests then announced, “Let’s get back to partying since we have even more to celebrate.” Which finally caused the guests to disperse and go back to chatting and dancing and more importantly, leaving Peter and Michelle alone.

Peter made his rounds, chatting to various party guests whilst Michelle just hung around in a corner by herself not feeling entirely comfortable with the social situation she’d found herself in.

She had gathered a spread of food for herself and settled on a table and was peacefully enjoying her food when the girl from earlier, _Liz_ , approached her.

“Hey, there you are,” She settled into a seat opposite Michelle. “How are you holding up?”

“Oh, um, fine,” Michelle smiled awkwardly.

“This party is a lot isn’t it?”

Michelle snorted, “A little bit, yeah.”

“That’s just Tony for you.”

A few beats of silence passed, neither sure what to say to the other.

“So uh, you and Peter?” Michelle eventually brought up the elephant in the room.

“Yeah.”

“Were you guys serious?”

“We dated a bit in high school, but you know…” Liz smiled emphatically. “We were kids.”

“And you guys called it off because of?” Michelle’s curiosity was getting the better of her.

“Um,” Liz started before taking a moment to consider her words. “Before we graduated school he proposed and said he wanted to elope and run away to somewhere far with me. And…”

“You said no,” Michelle offered with a sympathetic smile.

“I said no,” she confirmed. “Peter was clearly going through some things and just wanted to get away from it, from all this. It wasn’t really about wanting to marry me and run away with me, but anyway.” She went quiet for a moment, a small sad smile on her face as she looked down at the table cloth. She exhaled then looked back up at Michelle, “Anyway, you’re a luck girl. Peter really is the best, but you already know that.”

“Yep, yep. Very much so,” Michelle agreed mechanically.

“Well,” she raised her wine glass before continuing, “Cheers to you guys.”

“Oh um-“ Having no drink Michelle reached for an empty nearby glass then clinked it against Liz’s own. “Thanks.”

Liz drank whilst Michelle ate quietly for a few moments until Liz eventually got up and left with a friendly wave.

Michelle was now full and bored of hanging out on her own so decided to explore the compound, away from the guests. She stumbled into an empty hallway and was going to snoop through any rooms she could find when she heard an angry exchange just ahead of her around the corner.

“Peter doesn’t need this from you, not now Tony!” Michelle heard a voice, most likely May’s, shout out.

“I just reminded him that his position here and at Stark Industries is still available to him if he wants it. I got that boy into MIT and he has an engineering degree, yet he’s wasting it away what? Fetching coffee for that woman?”

“Tony, Peter made his choice to not have this life, why can’t you respect that and be happy for him. Be happy that he’s pursuing a passion of his-“

Tony interrupted, “I thought this was his passion too!”

Michelle heard May sigh dejectedly. “Just- can you just be supportive of him and Michelle and not bring up the other stuff. We’re meant to be celebrating today.”

Michelle didn’t hear the rest of the conversation as she heard the tell-tale sound of a radio along with someone saying something about the “perimeter” and “checks” so she hurriedly made her way back to the main hall to the other guests before security found her lurking.

 

* * *

 

A few hours later the “get together” eventually died down as people had started to go their own ways and Peter, Michelle and May were shown to their rooms upstairs as well as the bathroom on their wing.

Once they were settled into their room Peter made an excuse about needing to go for a walk, clearly upset though when Michelle tried to check on him he’d dismissed her then left without another word.

Michelle was left alone in the expansive room and she spent some time looking around, numbly channel surfing the wall mounted television and trying to convince herself she wasn’t waiting for Peter. Eventually she gave up on not-waiting for Peter and decided to take a shower and head to bed.

She headed straight for the bathroom and stripped down and showered. It was only when she got out of the shower that she realised she’d forgotten her towel in the bedroom.

She looked around the bathroom for a spare towel, or anything she could use to cover herself up with then run to the safety of the bedroom but to no avail. She pressed her ear against the door to see if she could hear any signs of life in the hallway and when she heard nothing she decided to make a run for it to the bedroom opposite.

She’d just opened the bedroom door and was about to make her escape when she collided with Peter who panicked and let go of the towel wrapped around his waist to try and break Michelle's fall, meaning their naked bodies were now pressed against each other.

They both fell to the ground, Peter landing on his back with a thud and Michelle landing on top of him.

Both of them immediately got up in a panic.

“Why are you naked?” Michelle asked, desperately attempting to cover herself and retain her dignity with just her hands.

“Why are you wet?” Peter asked as he hurriedly picked up the towel he’d dropped in his panic before. “And where is your towel?”

Michelle dove to the bed and grabbed the throw over the top to use to cover herself. “Peter, get out! Oh my God!” Michelle exclaimed, covering her eyes.

“I didn’t mean to-“ Peter tried to explain as he quickly left the bedroom.

He eventually came back after having taken an extra long shower, too embarrassed to come back and face Michelle until his skin had started to wrinkle and he realised he couldn’t keep hiding out forever. He quietly and awkwardly got into bed and lay down on the opposite end without saying a word to Michelle who was lying there still awake.

They both lay there quietly, neither saying a word nor able to sleep.

Michelle was first to break the awkward silence, “So, uh…what’s the deal with you and Tony Stark?”

“Um, that question isn’t in the binder.”

“You said I had to learn all these facts about you-“

Peter interrupted her, “Not about that.”

“But if the guy asks-“

“Not about that. Goodnight Michelle.”

He could feel the bed shift slightly as Michelle fumbled and moved around, unsure what to do to get Peter to open up to her.

“I love pop music,” she said seemingly out of nowhere.

“W-what?”

“Like the really cheesy, trashy love songs type of pop.”

Peter didn’t say anything since he wasn’t sure what was happening.

“Um, what else...I was a theatre kid and I actually had dreams of being an entertainer when I was younger. My favourite pastime is drawing, mostly portraits. I cried so much when I met Michelle Obama when she came to my college that she had to hold me for five minutes until my cries subsided. Everyone was pissed at me for holding up the meet and greet line. My childhood nickname was “MJ” because I wanted to be Michael Jackson so badly.” She continued railing off little facts about herself, the small things about herself she kept safely guarded that Peter didn’t know about. “I haven’t slept with anyone in nearly two years and uh- I went to the bathroom and cried after Flash called me a heinous bitch,” the final confessions were barely a whisper.

“And my tattoo is my grandma’s handwriting saying, “See you later alligator” I got it when I was 17 after my grandma died, it’s- it’s stupid,” she cleared her throat, “I’m sure there are many, many other things I can come up with right now.”

“Are you gonna say anything?” Michelle asked after a beat where she got no response to having basically bared herself to Peter.

“I- uh…why “See you later alligator”?”

“My grandma always used to say it to me and she loved this song that her mom- my great grandma, always used to play all the time.”

“The Bill Haley song?” Peter asked bemusedly.

“You know the song?”

“Yeah is it the one like-“ and Peter started to sing quietly, “See you later alligator, after a while crocodile. See you later alligator, after a while crocodile. Can’t you see you’re in my way…” Then he made mouth trumpet sounds as the backing track to his singing.

Michelle burst into an unexpected fit of giggles at his full performance which only prompted him to sing some more, just to get her to laugh more and louder.

Eventually he stopped singing then they lay there is companionable silence until they both started to drift off.

“Michelle?” Peter mumbled sleepily.

“Hm?”

“Don’t take this the wrong way but, uh, you’re a very beautiful woman,” he admitted quietly into the dark.

“You can call me MJ, Peter,” was all she replied though he could sort of make out a smile in her voice.

They both then fell asleep, feeling weirdly content despite the stressful day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not entirely happy with my film to fic changes (there are bunch of things I didn't like in the film that I didn't want to carry over into the fic...like Sandra Bullock's character being a hard-ass of a boss bc she lost her parents when she was young so she's like bitchy bc she's lonely??? it's a tired trope) so I had to come up with different explanations which I'm not sure work as well but you're getting this crap anyway...sorry. Anyway, hope you enjoy this latest one. As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated.
> 
> And if you want to, you can find me on tumblr @tvfanatic97-2 and on twitter @dayaspsychic x


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is so much crying in this chapter wow, I'm sorry.

Once again Peter woke up completely enveloped in another person. Limbs entangled, arms wrapped around the other, and cocooned in the blankets together. He was lying on his back and Michelle- no, _MJ_ , had her head pillowed on his shoulder, her face burrowed into the crook of his neck.

Her breathing was slow, and even and her warm breath billowed against the skin of his neck tickling it slightly. Peter took the opportunity to revel in the quiet moment, just watching the rise and fall of her chest as she breathed synchronously with him.

And because he couldn’t help himself and he’d likely never get to see her this relaxed ever again, Peter ran his fingertips, the touch light and barely there, along her exposed shoulder where her pajama shirt had slipped off to expose the skin covered beneath.

Feeling emboldened he ran his fingers back and forth along the skin one, two times until MJ spoke up with no warning alerting him to the fact that she was awake and had likely been awake the entire time, her voice barely above a whisper, “Peter.”

He couldn’t tell whether his name was said as a warning for him to stop or as encouragement to continue but he didn’t get the chance to figure out the intent of her words as a loud knock rang out on their bedroom door.

“Peter? Michelle? It’s May, can I come in?” May called out from the other side of the door.

Hearing May’s voice was like being brought back to reality, the reality of his fake engagement and how he was lying to everyone he loved. It felt like being doused in cold water for Peter who immediately went into a state of panic, trying to scramble away from Michelle- no- _MJ_ ’s grasp to put as much distance between them as possible. MJ wrapped her arms more firmly around him to keep him in place, “Calm down Parker, we’re meant to be engaged remember,” She rang out the all too familiar mantra-like words she’d had to constantly remind him of over the weekend so far.

He relaxed, but only slightly, in her embrace as he stayed put. Then he called out to his aunt, “Come in May.”

May slowly opened the door, taking her time to come in. “I hope you guys are decent,” she joked, pretending to cover her eyes.

“May we weren’t-“ his words died down as he noticed Tony walking into the room closely behind May. “Right okay, so this is happening then.”

“Pete, May and I were talking and we’ve come up with a proposition and I happen to  think it’s a terrific idea. We-“

May excitedly interjected before he could make the announcement, “We want you to get married here tomorrow!” She stepped forward, moving closer to the bed and clapped her hands excitedly.

Both MJ and Peter went rigid. Neither moved, neither breathed.

“Uh, what?” MJ was first to speak up, the confusion in her tone apparent. “What?” she repeated, still confused.

“Well,” May started to explain the plan. “You’re gonna get married anyway so why don’t you get married here where we could be all together. I mean, everyone’s already come here for my birthday and your welcome home party- which so rarely happens. And Peter-“ she turned to face Peter directly to say the next part, “You haven’t been here in years but do you remember how much you used to love this place and how I had to fight to get you to leave and come home after your mi- your stays here? It’d just be perfect!”

“Oh…” MJ breathed out, still confused.

“Um, no,” Peter declared.

“Yeah…no, no,” MJ reaffirmed. “We’re here for your 50th May, we shouldn’t make this about us.”

“No, I want this!” May reassured. “It’d be the greatest birthday present ever,” she said more quietly, almost guilt tripping.

There was a pause as Peter and MJ considered what to do then finally, “Okay, okay,” they agreed at the same time.

“Oh this is great! I’m gonna talk to Pepper and we’ll sort out everything!” She excitedly screamed before practically skipping out of the room after a much calmer Tony. May skipping like a giddy school girl was a weird sight for Peter to see.

Once they were left alone Peter reverted back to his panic mode, letting go of MJ and rolling away from her to lie face down on the pillow which he proceeded to scream into. He lifted his head up for a moment, “Oh my God. When May finds out this whole thing is a sham she’s gonna be crushed. I am a monster, and Tony? What the hell is with that- the whole wedding thing? Where’d that come from?”

Peter was going down a bad, bad path and so MJ intervened to stop him. She reached a hand out to rest on his back to comfort him as she spoke, “Peter, she probably got him worked up into it. It’s fine, she’s not gonna find out. They’re not gonna find out.”

Peter’s head collapsed back down onto the pillow and he screamed into it again.

“Peter, it’s gonna be okay” she rubbed her hand soothingly up and down his back a few times. “It’s not like we’re gonna be married forever. We’ll be happily divorced before you know it, we’ll be fine. Okay?” she reassured, continuing to rub soothing circles over his back.

Peter was once again surprised by how comforting and soothing she was being right now. “Yeah,” he whispered.

They stayed like that for a prolonged moment, MJ rubbing his back soothingly whilst he watched her until it got awkward and MJ moved to get out of the bed to rummage through her suitcase for her dressing gown.

Peter shifted his position so he was now sitting up watching MJ. “You’re right. It’ll be fine, we’ll just get a quickie divorce. It’s gonna be fine.”

“Exactly,” MJ agreed as she pulled the robe over herself. “It’s gonna be fine,” she repeated a bit quieter, Peter wasn’t sure if she was reassuring him or herself or both of them but it worked to further calm him down.

MJ tied her robe up then stood near the edge of the bed for a moment just staring off into the distance without saying anything. “Uh MJ, are you okay?”

After a brief pause she seemed to snap out of it, “Yeah, yeah. I’m gonna go actually.”

“Where?” Peter questioned.

“I just kinda feel like going outside,” she grabbed his sweatpants and hoody that were on top of his bag.

“Um, where are you going with my clothes?”

“I’m just gonna change into these then I’ll uh, yeah…” she gestured awkwardly for the door before walking out. It was still bizarre to Peter to see his boss act nervous or awkward, those were two adjectives he’d have never associated with Michelle Jones prior to this weekend.

 

* * *

 

MJ quickly removed her robe then wore Peter’s clothes over her pajamas before heading out.

She didn’t have a particular destination in mind, she just needed some time and space. She just needed to take a moment to process the fact that this was actually happening. Sure it’d been her idea to enter this fake marriage, but in her mind they would get married quietly and quickly at a courthouse. This whole massive wedding surrounded by the Avengers had not been what she envisioned.

She started aimlessly walking around the compound, which turned out to be even more extensive than she’d realised. She walked past all the various buildings and along the lake until she wound up in a small patch of woods as she talked herself through everything that was happening.

She wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings, her thoughts too consuming, and so she didn’t realise she was well and truly lost until she looked up around her and realised she was far away from the buildings and cars and any signs of life and she couldn’t remember what direction she’d even come from.

She tried to go back on herself and walked in the direction she thought she may have come from for a while but still there was no sign of life anywhere.

She tried walking in a different direction and she stayed along that path for fifteen or so minutes but she didn’t seem to really be going anywhere.

She was starting to not quite panic, because Michelle Jones did _not_ panic, but to feel uneasy when a voice called out to her, “Are you lost?”

MJ rolled her eyes and scoffed, “No I’m not lost Parker. Shut up.”

“Do you wanna head back and get some breakfast? One advantage of how extra Tony is, is that there’s breakfast made by professional chefs.”

“Um, yeah sure. I wasn’t done with my walk but I’ll come with you anyway Parker.”

Peter simply smiled knowingly at her transparent lie then they walked back side-by-side.

They went to a large kitchen that had chafing dishes set up all over the kitchen counters, that MJ was surprised to find was empty.

Peter noticed her surprise at how there was no one else here with them, “This is like one of five kitchens here, everyone is in the main kitchen. I figured you wouldn’t want to be hounded by everyone right now.”

“Yeah, thanks,” she responded quietly, grateful for his assumption.

After piling their plates with an assortment of breakfast food they settled down on the kitchen table next to one another and ate in silence, though the silence was a comfortable one.

“Morning love birds,“ Liz’s words rang out interrupting their breakfast. “We’re out of maple syrup in the other kitchen so I just came to steal some from here.”

“I’ll help you with that,” Peter immediately jumped up to carry the industrial sized bottle for her then they walked out of the kitchen together.

They weren’t gone for very long, barely five minutes, but it was long enough for MJ to further agonise over everything. In her mind Peter clearly still harboured feelings towards Liz and their fake marriage was effectively ruining any chance of rekindling their romance Peter may have had. This fake marriage was already taking its toll and causing pain and they weren’t actually married yet.

Before she could become further consumed by her guilt and doubt Peter walked back into the kitchen and settled into his chair next to her then carried on eating his food like nothing had happened.

MJ pushed her plate away from her a little, finding that she had lost her appetite completely. “So it was nice to see Liz, huh?”

Peter finished chewing his food before responding, “Yeah.”

“She looked really pretty today.”

“Yeah she did,” Peter awkwardly agreed, not entirely sure where this was going.

“Must be nice to see each other again, and just catch up,” MJ carried on.

“Yeah, it was really good to see her. It’s uh, it’s been a long time.”

They sat in silence again, though this time it was now awkward and tension-filled with neither sure what to say or do.

Luckily May walked in at that moment, “Oh hi, there you are! I’m gonna have to steal Michelle away for a moment, Peter. Sorry.”

“Oh, no, no, no,” MJ protested. “I was- we were just gonna um-” and there was the nervous MJ again, fumbling over her words and unsure of herself. May really seemed to bring it out of her.

May walked around the table and took MJ’s hand in her own to help her stand up. “C’mon Michelle.” She turned to look at Peter briefly, “Not you, you go entertain yourself with toys or something.”

She whisked MJ away back to the wing they had slept in the previous night, taking her to the room she was sleeping in which was a few doors down from MJ’s and Peter’s.

“Sit,” she commanded as she went to a small bag, not the one she had with her when they’d left her Queens apartment, on the chair in the corner to dig through it for something.

MJ sat at the end of the bed anxiously waiting to see what May had in store for her.

After what felt like an eternity nervously waiting, May finally turned around and she was holding a simple white dress on a hanger.

“So I know you’re like twenty feet taller than me,” she giggled slightly. “But I had Tony send someone to get this because it’s is actually too long for me since I’m so short. It came to about midi-length on me so on you it’ll sit just above your knees and it should still look nice- well, it’ll look better on you than it ever did on me actually. I figured you’re not one for the massive, showy wedding dresses and would appreciate something simple like this.”

MJ was speechless as she looked at the dress that’d been handed to her. It was a simple ivory dress, you wouldn’t even really consider it a wedding dress but it was the exact kind of thing MJ would’ve envisioned herself getting married in if she was the type to imagine that kind of thing. It was understated but gorgeous, it was _perfect_. “Um, I- yeah.”

May sat next to her on the end of the bed. “I got married to Ben in this dress and since his death I’ve kept it at the back of my closet because seeing it would make me cry and remind me of all that I’ve lost. I kept it hidden away because I associated it with pain and sadness but now with you and Peter getting married, I can associate it with happy memories again and it doesn’t have to be a source of pain for me anymore.” She stopped for a moment when she got teary eyed, “Peter has lost a lot of family but with you, he- _we,_ can rebuild that and be a proper family again.”

“May I can’t take this,” MJ tried to hand the dress back to her.

May shook her head gently, “Michelle, I want you to have it.”

“May, I, uh- I uh,” MJ started getting choked up. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Just say you’ll wear the dress,” May reached a hand forward to hold MJ’s in her own.

MJ found that she couldn’t say no to the woman, “I’ll wear the dress.”

May grinned happily then wrapped her arms around MJ in a side-on hug then just held her. Eventually she pulled away, “Okay, I need to go finish organising this wedding.”

The older woman left the bedroom, leaving MJ alone. She sat there as she thought through everything again, furiously wiping her eyes to stop the tears threatening to fall.

Once she felt like she’d gotten a hold of her emotions she placed the dress gently on the bed then made her way to the bedroom her and Peter were sharing where she found him lying on the now-made bed scrolling through his phone mindlessly.

“Oh, hi MJ,” he greeted earnestly, turning his head to face her once he'd put his phone down after he noticed her presence.

Without thinking MJ started stripping off his clothes that she’d thrown on before and she also started taking off her pajamas that she was wearing underneath.

“Woah, woah, what are you doing?” Peter asked, quickly closing his eyes and turning his head to face the opposite side of the room then placing his hands over his eyes for good measure.

MJ ignored him as she carried on undressing then she put on her own clothes, jeans and a button up shirt.

“MJ-“

“I just need time to think,” she announced, interrupting him, before she practically ran out of their room.

“MJ, wait-” Peter tried to stop her as he walked beside her, surprisingly able to keep up with her longer strides. She should’ve known he’d follow her.

She carried on walking out of the expansive building and out into the open space outside, her pace having quickened to a jog now though Peter remained right there beside her.

After running as far as she could she eventually came to a stop, pausing to hunch over so she could catch her breath and still Peter was right there beside her.

He waited for her to catch her breath. “Do you mind telling me what’s happening now?” When he got no response he tried again, “MJ?”

After another moment, “Michelle?”

“I can’t do this Peter.”

“You can’t do what?” He asked confusedly.

“This- this marriage thing, okay!”

“MJ-“ He tried to reason with her.

MJ kept rambling meaning Peter couldn’t get a word in. “I was being so selfish and thinking about myself, how I didn’t want to lose my job and go back home to my high-flying family as a failure. I didn’t even take the time to consider what this means to you, _to May_. You guys have been through so much and I’m just interfering with that and toying with May when it’s all fake. This isn’t right. I’m sorry I made you do this. I am so sorry, I am so sorry Peter.”

She kept mumbling the words “I’m sorry” over and over again between her sobs.

Her breathing grew erratic as she got more worked up then suddenly she was gasping for air, clutching her chest like she couldn’t breathe.

Peter immediately stepped forward to place a calming hand on her shoulder, “MJ, breathe. Just breathe with me, okay. In and out.”

He kept that up for a few minutes until MJ eventually caught her breath and started breathing normally again and her cries died down. He steered her to sit on a bench whilst she calmed down.

They sat beside each other with her hands wrapped up in his own. “MJ, I was selfish as well. I knew I could use this to advance my career and that’s why I said yes. I’ve also seen first hand how much work you’ve put into shaping this paper and ensuring it’s success and I didn’t want you to lose that. You didn’t make me do anything, okay?”

“But May-“ MJ tried to argue.

“May is happy for me but her happiness isn’t entirely reliant on this marriage. She just wants to see me happy and I am happy, whether this marriage is real or not.”

MJ didn’t say anything.

“I want this MJ,” he reaffirmed.

Finally she looked up at him and wiped away any remaining tears. Peter wrapped an arm around her and gently brought her head down to rest on his shoulder.

They stayed like that for what may have been minutes or hours until MJ broke the silence, “I don’t know why you want to be a photojournalist Parker. You’re pretty good with your words.”

And just like that the moment was ruined. “Shut up,” Peter retorted. “Do you wanna head back to the compound now?”

“Sure,” MJ said already getting up off the bench.

 

* * *

 

Once they got back to the main building of the compound they found Tony Stark seemingly waiting for them. “I wanna talk to both of you,” he announced before walking ahead, expecting them to follow him.

The pair were confused about what was happening but they nevertheless followed after the older man.

Tony took them to one of his offices in a small separate wing, far away from everything and everyone else. Before he reached to put his thumb on the scanner by the door he turned back to Peter, “Your aunt is never to hear about any of this.”

He scanned his thumb print then the door slid open to reveal Mr Wilson from the USCIS waiting in one of the desk chairs.

“Told you I’d check up on ya,” Mr Wilson said by way of greeting to the bewildered pair.

Peter immediately turned to Tony, “What did you do?”

“I got a phone call from Mr Wilson here who told me that if you were lying, and he strongly believes that you are, he’d send you to prison so I brought him up here,” Tony explained.

“Tony,” Peter sighed with barely concealed anger and disappointment.

“Luckily for you, Mr Stark here negotiated a deal on your behalf. Now this offer is gonna last for twenty seconds, so listen closely- you’re gonna make a statement admitting this marriage is a sham or you’re gonna go to prison. You tell the truth and you’re off the hook and she-“ Mr Wilson gestured to MJ, “is gonna go back to Canada.” He then waited a moment for Peter to respond.

Mr Wilson looked between the pair with a smirk, like he was pleased with himself.

Meanwhile MJ stared at Peter with wide eyes, not quite believing what was happening.

Peter didn’t do or say anything which frustrated Tony, “Pete, take the deal,” he gently prodded.

Peter exhaled loudly like he was steeling himself to say something then he looked up at Mr Wilson, “I don’t think so.”

“I did this for you Peter, I am trying to protect you,” Tony tried to reason with him before he rejected the deal.

Peter straightened his posture, gaining a newfound burst of self-assuredness and confidence. “You want a statement, here’s your statement: I’ve been working for Michelle Jones for three years, six months ago we started dating. We fell in love and she asked me to marry her and I said yes.” He then turned to face Tony, “I’ll see you at the wedding.”

He grabbed MJ’s hand in his own then led her out of the office back to their bedroom.

Once they were back in their room they sat down on one edge of the bed next to each other without exchanging any words.

Slowly and hesitantly like she was questioning herself which was something Peter would never get used to seeing, not from her, MJ reached a hand out to hold Peter’s. “Are you sure about this?” She asked quietly.

“Not really,” Peter said with a humourless laugh.

MJ opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to figure out her wording before she spoke, “I mean, I am very appreciative of what you’re doing for me Peter but I don’t want to make you do anything you don’t want to. And I certainly don’t want to be the reason your relationship with your mentor breaks down, I’m really not worth-“

Peter interrupted her rambling before it could go any further, “MJ, I’m Spider-Man.”

MJ paused her rambling and turned to face him fully, clearly surprised. “What?”

“I mean, well, I _was_ Spider-Man,” Peter clarified. He chuckled slightly, “Wait, why did I just tell you that?”

“I don’t understand…”

Well he’d already revealed his deepest darkest secret to her so might as double down on revealing everything else. “That’s how I know Tony, how he’s my mentor. I- um…” Peter paused and took a deep breath in and out before continuing. “It got too much, you know? I was fighting in wars I was way too young to be fighting in and I lost so much of myself, of my youth. I tried to quit at the end of high school after- after, well…I tried to run away to get away from it all. I had a plan to marry Liz then we’d run off together but she said no and convinced me to stay and face whatever was bothering me so I did, for her. I was meant to be some heir apparent or something to the Stark empire so he sent me off to MIT to do engineering, priming me to take over and I carried on being Spider-Man but then-“ he paused when MJ reached a hand out to wipe away a stray he hadn’t realised had fallen.

That small gesture gave him the strength to carry on, “I had a girlfriend in college, Gwen, but she- she- he got to her because of me. Because of Spider-Man. Because of Spider-Man she was killed and suddenly I realised I needed to do what I should’ve done when I was still in high school. I gave it all up, Spider-Man, Stark Industries, anything to do with this world and Tony. When I graduated I decided I was going to pursue photography instead of this Stark Industries, Avengers bullshit so I did.”

“I don’t know what to say,” MJ eventually said after a long stretch of silence.

“Tony and I have a complicated relationship because of our history, it has nothing to do with this- with _you_. It’s all because of everything that’s happened-“ Peter was fully sobbing by this point after having to recount some of the most painful memories of his life.

Not knowing what else to do MJ dragged Peter to lie down on the bed with her, her on her back and him lying on her chest. They were both still wearing their shoes but she didn’t care. She just held Peter as he sobbed for the people he lost, the childhood he lost and the father figure he lost.

After a while Peter’s cries eventually subsided but neither made a move to extricate themselves from where they were embraced.

“There’s been way more crying than I am comfortable with today,” MJ joked to lessen the tension.

“Yeah...sorry about that,” he mumbled into her shirt.

They then fell back into a soothing silence, MJ’s hand gently rubbing the hair at the nape of his neck as they lay there peacefully. That peace and tranquillity was disturbed when someone knocked on the door.

“Peter, you need to come with me,” May said walking in, this time not having bothered to wait to be told to come in. “Give your bride a kiss goodnight because she can’t stay with you tonight.”

“Um-“ Peter tried to protest.

“You know the bride and groom can’t see each other the night before the wedding, honey,” May reminded him after having gathered his bag and other stray belongings. “C’mon,” she gestured for Peter to follow after her.

She went ahead leaving them alone for a moment to say their goodbyes. “I better go with her otherwise she’ll physically drag me out of here,” Peter said as he finally moved to get out her arms and climb off the bed.

MJ raised her eyebrows slightly at him, non-verbally checking that he was okay.

Peter smiled softly back at her in answer to her unspoken question. “See you in the morning?”

“Yep,” she breathed out, nodding gently.

He then walked out of the room, gently closing the door behind him so as to not make any noise, leaving MJ laying alone on the bed. She smiled sadly to herself as she thought about everything that had transpired over the course of the day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed this latest chapter. As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated (I need the external validation PLS)!
> 
> You can find me @tvfanatic97-2 on tumblr/@dayaspsychic on twitter x


	6. Chapter 6

Peter nervously fumbled with the cuff links of his expensive Italian suit Tony had sprung for him for the millionth time over the last fifteen minutes looking out across the large open space that had been transformed with chairs, flowers and other decorative pieces so it looked more like the interior of some grand cathedral rather than that of the modern, minimalist Avengers compound.

“You got this bud,” Ned reassured, placing a hand on his shoulder to calm him slightly when he noticed how nervous he was acting if the million cuff link adjustments and the way his eyes kept going back to the end of the aisle every few seconds was anything to go by.

“I am so glad you came dude,” Peter told him, feeling much calmer than he did the previous night thanks to his best friend’s presence. And he was glad. May had arranged for a car to go and pick him up to bring him to the compound the night before, knowing that Peter would’ve been too preoccupied by his nerves to remember to invite his best friend to his own impromptu wedding. He really didn’t deserve May.

“I’m glad I came too,” Ned said with a dopey grin.

Before Peter could say anything more, the hired pianist started playing Pachelbel’s Canon in D and MJ was suddenly there at the end of the aisle.

She was a sight to behold in May’s old wedding dress.

She walked down the aisle, almost in what appeared to be slow motion to Peter but he was likely imagining it, with May’s arm hooked in her own until they reached Peter at which point May released her and pecked her briefly on the cheek before taking her place in the front row to observe.

“Everyone, please be seated,” Dr Banner announced when the music came to a stop. “We’re gathered here today  to give thanks and to celebrate one of life’s greatest gifts- young love.” The crowd whooped and cheered at that for a moment before they quieted down again to allow Dr Banner to continue the proceedings, “We’re here to celebrate the young love between Peter and Michelle who today are honouring it in front of loved ones, the same loved ones who taught Peter and Michelle how to love and how to honour-“

MJ put a finger up to interrupt him, “Um, I-“ She exhaled loudly as she took a moment to compose herself and consider something.

Peter turned to look at her questioningly, as did Bruce who verbalised his concern, “Michelle, are you okay?”

“Um, I have something I need to say,” MJ eventually got out.

“Em-“ Peter tried to stop her.

“I need to say this now,” she said, this time more affirmative. She then proceeded to turn around to face the crowd of 75 or so people that had carried over from the party before to their wedding ceremony.

MJ cleared her throat before addressing them, “Hi there, thank you all so much for coming out. I- I have a bit of an announcement to make about the wedding. A confession, actually,” she laughed nervously. “

“What are you doing?” Peter asked her with urgency.

She ignored his pleading question and carried on, “Uh, I am a Canadian. Yes, Canadian. With an expired visa, who is about to be deported and because I didn’t want to leave this wonderful country of yours I forced Peter here to marry me.”

“MJ stop it,” Peter mumbled, desperately trying to stop her.

“See, Peter has always had this extraordinary work ethic something I think he learned from you guys,” MJ was looking directly at May and Tony as she said those words. “And for three years I watched him work harder than anyone else and I knew that if I threatened to destroy his career he’d do- he’d do just about anything, so I blackmailed him to come up here and to lie to you. All of you. And I thought it’d be easy to watch him do it but it wasn’t. Turns out it’s not easy to ruin someone’s life once you find out how wonderful they are.” Michelle looked down at the bouquet of flowers in her hands to gather herself so she could finish. “You said you’ve lost all your family but Peter but you have a beautiful family right here,” her words were directed at May specifically this time, “don’t let this come between you. This was my fault.”

“MJ-“

“Peter, this was a business deal and you held up your end but now the deal is off,” she told him sadly before walking away. She whispered one final “I’m sorry” to May as she walked past her to leave the building.

Mr Wilson, who Peter hadn’t even noticed was amongst the guests before now, got up immediately to follow after MJ. And all hell broke loose once the two of them left.

“Peter, what have you done?” May asked, the hurt in her voice clear as she got up out of her seat to come towards him once she finally got over the initial shock of it all. “How could you lie to us?”

“May, I’m so sorry. I don’t know what to say, let me get my head on straight then I’ll explain everything later,” and with that Peter walked out to head back to their bedroom.

He sprinted to their wing, to their bedroom, but when he got there the room was empty with MJ having left already. May’s wedding dress having been carefully placed on the bed.

Beside the dress was a folded-up piece of paper addressed to him along with a business card.

Peter grabbed the paper and found a hand-written note from Michelle which read:

 

**_Peter,_ **

**_I am sorry I didn’t look over your portfolio before when you sent it to me. I am sorry I didn’t prioritise you the way you have always prioritised me over the past 3 years. But I looked over it and your photographs are gorgeous and I hate to keep apologising like this but I am sorry I didn’t look at them and give you a chance sooner. You have a great eye for captivating photos that tell a story, something essential for photojournalism, and you have a bright future ahead of you._ **

**_I sent your portfolio to a friend of mine, Betty Brant, who runs an online blog who said she’d love to have you on board. I left her card so you can call her. Even if I have to go back to Canada at least you won’t be jobless. You can finally do what you wanted to all those years ago when you gave up being Spider-Man._ **

**_Thank you for everything. You’re the best person I’ve ever known and deserve every bit of happiness and success coming your way in the future._ **

**_MJ_ **

 

The letter awakened something within Peter that was either never there before or more likely, had been there all along and was only knowing showing its face, and before he knew it he found himself running out of the room. He ran through the main hall were guests were still gathered.

“Peter what-“ May tried to stop him when he ran past her, desperately trying to make his way through the crowd to the main entrance.

“I have to go after her,” Peter declared running past them.

Tony ran after him and put an arm out to stop him, “Pete, I can’t let you do this.”

“I’m not asking for your permission, Tony. You’re not my d-”

“Both of you stop!” May called out interrupting the argument that was about to break out. “Come with me now!” she gestured to the pair, and they dutifully followed after her to a more private venue to talk away from the prying ears of the wedding guests.

They went to a side room far away from the commotion of the disrupted wedding, May not saying a word the entire time they were walking there as Peter and Tony followed after her petrified.

She opened the door and gestured for the two of them to go inside then she went after them and closed the door behind them.

“May-“ Tony started to speak.

“Shut up, I’m doing the talking now,” she silenced him. “Peter you quit being Spider-Man because of fears you never bothered to talk through with Tony himself so Tony has spent all this time blaming himself and feeling like he didn’t do enough to protect you and keep you safe and that’s why you quit it all. And that’s all come out as whatever this mess of a relationship between the two of you that you refuse to talk about is but that’s not what’s important right now. What’s important is that, that young woman was desperate to save her career, desperate enough to do something like this and she has just humiliated herself to save your skin so you better go after her and fix this. I don’t care how, just sort this whole mess out,” she pointed an accusatory finger at Peter.

“May I-“

“Go, you dumbass,” she shooed him out of the room. “You and Tony can work your shit out later. This takes priority.”

Peter didn’t need to be told twice as he turned to run out.

“Hey Peter,” Tony stopped him in his tracks. “You still have access to the garage, take one of my cars.”

“Thanks Tony,” Peter said with a sheepish smile before turning to run out to the garage.

He found the least flashy of Tony’s cars and drove it back to the city. Michelle had a roughly two-hour head start, he hoped he’d catch her in time.

 

* * *

 

When Peter got back to the city his first stop was his apartment to formulate a plan.

Mrs González appeared seemingly out of thin air as he was fumbling with his keys to get his door open, he was too nervous and jittery to get the key into the lock. She placed a gentle hand over his own slightly shaky ones, “Let me, Peter.”

After she’d unlocked his door for him he turned to her, “Thank you.”

“Are you okay?” She asked in a soothing tone, placing a comforting hand on his forearm.

Immediately Peter felt himself start to calm down, “I messed up with MJ- Michelle,” he clarified at the lack of recognition she displayed. “I don’t know how to fix it.”

“Big romantic gestures, women love those,” his neighbor suggested assuredly.

“I don’t think Michelle would like that, actually.”

The older woman paused to think for a moment then finally, “Okay, maybe not a big gesture. Just a small but meaningful one that will show her that you care and you want to fix whatever you did. You know Michelle better than anyone, you know what you have to do.”

Peter considered what on earth he could do to show that then he finally had his eureka moment. “I know what I have to do, thank you,” He leaned to quickly peck her cheek to show his gratitude before quickly running into his apartment to grab an essential item he’d need for his small but meaningful gesture.

He figured that she’d head to their office first to make sure everything was in order prior to her departure, she cared about the paper more than anything or anyone else after all, and he was correct. He found her packing away all her belongings into various boxes.

He knocked gently on her office door before walking in, “Hey, MJ.”

“Peter. Why are you panting?” she was looking at him with distaste.

Peter snorted at her question, “Because I’ve been running, MJ.”

“You ran from upstate?”

“Could you stop being sarcastic and keep your snarky comments to yourself for just one second? Please?”

“Impossible,” MJ scoffed.

“Fair enough. I need to talk to you.”

“Yeah? Well I don’t have time to talk, I need to catch a 5:45 to Toronto and I need to make sure I have all my stuff shipped. I haven’t been back home since I left for college so I don’t even have a place to stay so I’m gonna have to-“ she kept on rambling.

“MJ!” he shouted to get her to stop talking and packing and pay attention to him for a moment.

She paused and turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow at him for raising his voice at her. In their three years of working together she’d never once raised her voice at him and he’d obviously never raised his voice at her. It wasn’t their style.

Peter had the decency to look slightly ashamed at least, “Sorry. I just- I need to say something for a minute.”

When she didn’t protest or come out with a witty retort he took that as his cue to say what he wanted to say, what he’d been rehearsing to himself in the car on the drive to the office from his apartment.

“Three days ago I thought I knew the woman you were. The bossy, hardass, mean-“ She narrowed her eyes at him in warning, her threat clear: _this better be going somewhere,_ so he changed tact. “What I’m saying is, I thought I knew you inside out but then over the past weekend at my aunt’s and upstate I feel like I’m really getting to know you for the first time. I’m starting to see that you’re this sensitive artist, you’re someone who would get a tattoo of a silly saying to commemorate their grandmother, who cries over mean co-workers or when meeting someone they admire like Michelle Obama. You’re actually really shy and awkward in social situations and you’re generally not a fan of physical touch but you will hold and cuddle your pathetic, whimpering assistant when he breaks down about his life in front of you. So imagine how disappointed I felt at having to find out that this woman whose many layers I was just starting to peel back, this woman that I think I may be starting to fall in love with, is being deported back to Canada.”

At that MJ looked up at him suddenly, trying to gage if she’d heard him right. If he’d really said that _word_ she thought she heard him say.

“MJ, marry me?” Peter pressed on with more confidence as he got down onto one knee right in front  of her, producing a ring box from the pocket of his jacket.

“Where did you get that ring?”

“With everything I’ve just said, _that’s_ what you have to say?” Peter asked incredulously.

“Did you steal the ring?” MJ asked accusatorily, squinting her eyes at him.

“What-“ Peter huffed, “No, I didn’t steal the ring. It was May’s from Ben. She gave it to me so I could use it to propose to someone who’d accuse me of stealing it one day,” Peter deadpanned.

MJ smiled at that but still didn’t answer his more pressing question. Then eventually, “Peter you don’t actually love me and I can’t marry you, we barely know each other .”

Peter exhaled patiently. “I know that MJ, this is more of a keep you from getting deported type of thing.”

“No, Peter-“ she paused and looked down uncomfortably at him, “-please can you get up off the floor?”

Peter reluctantly got up and went to sit in one of her desk chairs like she instructed and she settled into the chair next to his.

“Peter, I know you and I know that marriage is a big deal to you. You told me yourself, remember? I don’t want you to propose to me just because you feel like you have to to keep me in the country, the deal is off. I got you that job with Betty so you’ll be all set when I go back, I think it’s best that I go back then I can re-apply for a visa in a few years’ time and come back.”

“I may be asking to marry you so you’re not deported but I meant everything I said,” her breath hitched slightly at his words. “I want to get to know you more, I want to date you and I don’t think it’s fair that you should have to go away before we even get the chance to start anything.” He leaned forward to grab her hand, “This paper is your baby and it’ll go to shit under Flash’s leadership, say yes to save us from his tyranny at least.”

MJ laughed slightly, “We could still date if I were in Canada. You’re not banned from coming to Canada, I just can’t come back here for some time so if you were to make up with him, you’ll have Tony Stark’s money and you could definitely afford the flights.”

“I don’t want a long-distance relationship, MJ,” Peter declared simply. “I just want you.”

“I’m scared,” MJ admitted, her voice a whisper.

“Me too,” he squeezed her hand tighter in his.

Feeling brave, Peter got up out of his seat then came to stand in front of her chair and bent down over her, leaning his weight on each armrest of the chair before he pressed his lips against hers.

MJ whimpered at the intensity of the kiss and Peter used that as his opportunity to deepen the kiss. She reflexively brought her arms up to wrap around his neck to pull him down towards her more which Peter enthusiastically did whilst still trying to balance his weight on her chair so as to not topple over into her lap.

She got up off her seat to stand up with him, keeping their lips connected which meant Peter had to lean his head up a little bit to continue kissing her, then she pushed him down into the chair she was previously in so their positions were switched before she sat down on his lap and tilted back to face him with her arms returning to wrap around his neck and pull him impossibly closer.

When it became necessary to breathe once more they pulled apart and smiled at each other as they both tried to catch their breath.

“You must really care about the paper to do this,” she whispered, her face still inches away from his and her breath fanning over his face as she spoke.

Peter grinned up at her then pressed a chaste kiss to her lips once more before leaning back to watch her, “Yeah, I really, really care about the _paper_.” The implication of his words was clear.

MJ looked over his face with a barely contained matching grin, “I guess I actually have to go through with becoming Mrs Jones-Parker, huh?”

Peter shrugged, “I’m not entirely averse to being Mr Peter Jones.”

She smiled at him again before leaning back down to kiss him once more, the need to breathe be damned, just because she could.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've re-written this so many times and still I wasn't happy with the end-product and I know there are unresolved story threads but in the end this was driving me nuts and I want to just focus on the medical au and another fic I'm working on atm so I just decided to wrap it up and get this out there. Thank you all for reading this and all your kind comments and messages, writing rom-coms is literally so much fun and I have another rom-com au nearly finished that I'll be posting within the next few days :)
> 
> Anyway, thanks and again and come find me on tumblr @tvfanatic97-2 and twitter @dayaspsychic xx

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, I know this series was meant to be one-shots but I always thought the characters in the film decide to get married for real for real a little too quickly so I decided to add a bit more stuff then this just kept growing, and growing until it became too long to keep as a one-shot. But the good news is that it's all mostly written so you won't have to wait ages between updates. And also, this opens up the door to more multi-chapter rom-com aus for the more tricky aus so...yeah. Anyway I've rambled enough, hope you enjoy this one!!! As always, comments and kudos are much appreciated.
> 
> Also you can find me on tumblr @tvfanatic97-2 and on twitter @tvfanatic97 if you want x


End file.
